Question

From http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/tools/webapp/running.html

Tip: App Engine routes requests to
Python scripts based on the URL and
mappings specified in the
application’s app.yaml file. A webapp
WSGIApplication further maps specific
URL paths to request handlers. How
you use both mappings is up to you:
You could have all non-static URLs go
to a single Python script, and have
the script dispatch all dynamic URLs
to handlers. Or, you can group
functionality into multiple WSGI
applications run by different scripts,
and use app.yaml to map the
appropriate URLs to the appropriate
applications.

My question is: Which is better/faster/more efficient (app.yaml mapping to multiple apps?) or if there is no performance difference, which would you use and why?

Answer 1

There’s no performance difference worth considering. The pattern most people use is to have a single handler script (with a single mapping in app.yaml) per logical ‘application’ inside your webapp. In many apps, that translates to just one handler, or one for the main site plus another for the admin functionality.