Preface
"What do you want to do when you graduate college?" asked a family friend. "I'm not sure. I really like building web applications," I said. "Maybe I can do that." The response: "No, there's no future in that. Pick something else." Wow, was he wrong!
That was a conversation I had about 20 years ago. It was truly a demoralizing comment. I had begun experimenting with the web and programming in high school in the late 90s. However, burdened with this defeat, I naively accepted it as truth and kept web development as a hobby. Ultimately, I went on to law school and launched a career as a lawyer. Don't get me wrong, I loved being a lawyer and I loved the work that I did. But my years as an attorney drove me back to software development, ultimately turning my hobby into a career. This quite unusual career path was made possible by the open source community. Through the help and guidance of the community at large, I taught myself the skills I would need to become a professional. It is now my turn to help others.
I share this story because it highlights something that I think is applicable not only to my life but also to web application development in general. This bad advice is a reminder that not all guidance is good, and that the best course of action is the one that fits my needs, not those of someone else. This book is devoted to that concept.
To become better at what we do, we must constantly be moving forward on our journey, learning new things and polishing existing skills. We must take the advice, the design patterns, and the code snippets that others provide us and internalize them. Some of it will be good, and some of it will be bad. By knowing this, we can carefully select the good to build something that meets our challenges and is truly extraordinary.
Shortly, we will start a journey together learning about web development. By the end of this book, I hope that you feel empowered to build what you want and need, and not be constrained by bad advice. And maybe—just maybe—you might walk away with just a little more passion and respect for Sanic, for Python, and for open source software. I truly wish you the best of luck on your own personal journey.