I know the various frameworks have their benefits, but I personally want my web development in python to be as straight-forward as possible: less writing to the framework, more writing python.
The only thing I have found so far that lets me do this in the most obvious way possible is web.py but I have slight concerns on its performance.
For those of you using nginx(or another flavour)+mod_wsgi+web.py... how's performance? Can it be improved further?
For those of you who have used web.py, liked the idea and went on to write something better or found something better... care to point me to the source?
I'd like to hear about all the conspicuous, minimal yet powerful approaches.
It's hilarious how, even prompted with a question asking how to write without a framework, everyone still piles in to promote their favourite framework. The OP whinges about not wanting a “heavyweight framework”, and the replies mention Twisted, of all things?! Come now, really.
Yes, it is perfectly possible to write straight WSGI apps, and grab bits of wanted functionality from standalone modules, instead of fitting your code into one particular framework's view of the world.
To take this route you'll generally want to be familiar with the basics of HTTP and CGI (since WSGI inherits an awful lot from that earlier specification). It's not necessarily an approach to recommend to beginners, but it's quite doable.
I'd like to hear about all the conspicuous, minimal yet powerful approaches
You won't hear about them, because no-one has a tribal interest in promoting “do it yourself” as a methodology. Me, I use a particular standalone templating package, a particular standalone form-reading package, a particular data access layer, and a few home-brew utility modules. I'm not writing to one particular philosophy I can proselytise about, they're all just boring tools that could be swapped out and replaced with something else just as good.