I'm just beginning to develop an idea I've had for a little while. There are lots of generic components to be implemented: MVC, authentication, secure REST API. It seems like it would be best to start with a framework but I can't seem to find one that has these components and yet still feels lightweight. Did you build your app on top of a framework? If so which one if not why not?
I started working with Django about 6 months ago and have loved it. I had been a long time anti-framework guy, but can't say I have had any huge complaints with Django so far.
I particularly have enjoyed the ORM, although you need to be careful not to get carried away with it. Its easy to create slow queries with it and don't assume it will always get indexes correct.
I have also enjoyed the community around Django. I enjoy being able to search a particular problem and find that someone already has created a Django app to solve it. In my PHP days (RIP) this was possible, but usually ended up being a lot more ugly.
Same with me here. I switched from using CakePHP to Django and haven't touched any PHP since. I would highly recommend Django.
With that being said, I think while development without a framework "might" feel more lightweight, you will pay for it later when you're maintaining your app. As they always say, you build it once but you have to maintain it forever. I think investing in a framework will most likely pay off in the future even if there is an overhead usually associated with framework.
I've been working with web2py for about 6 months. I was new to Python at the time and it seemed like a framework that could get me pretty far pretty fast. So far it's been fantastic.
I'm building a digital signage application. I'm using web2py on Apache for my serverside control panel/mobile management website. I'm also using web2py on the display side with it's built in webserver.
To tie everything together I'm primarily pushing around JSON via Beanstalk. All other management of the client ends is done via Fabric.
I just started building something. I had no experience in any of the web friendly languages before. I was looking for suggestions on frameworks and stumbled upon CodeIgniter (PHP based MVC architecture framework). I have been able to get satisfactory results. I think I might have had a similar level of success had I picked Django or some other f/w.
I particularly have enjoyed the ORM, although you need to be careful not to get carried away with it. Its easy to create slow queries with it and don't assume it will always get indexes correct.
I have also enjoyed the community around Django. I enjoy being able to search a particular problem and find that someone already has created a Django app to solve it. In my PHP days (RIP) this was possible, but usually ended up being a lot more ugly.