new blog post

Author: mattmakai

content/posts/171222-five-years-full-stack-python.markdown

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 headeralt: Python programming language and Full Stack Python logos.
 
 
-[Full Stack Python](https://www.fullstackpython.com/) started five years ago
-on December 23, 2012. I originally built it to help out a bunch of junior
-developers that kept asking me the same questions over and over via email.
-It seemed like the answers would be useful to many more people if I put them
-on a publicly-accessible site.
+**[Full Stack Python](https://www.fullstackpython.com/)** began five years 
+ago today, on December 23, 2012, with 
+[Git commit 69f5f46](https://github.com/mattmakai/fullstackpython.com/commit/69f5f466196f572aab187504d52bc368cde840cd). 
 
-Little did I know that five years later I'd have written over 120,000 words
-on the site, which has now been read by over 2.5 million developers.
+I originally built the site to help out a group of junior developers that 
+kept asking me similar Python web development questions via email. It seemed 
+like the answers would be useful to more people if I put them in a
+publicly-accessible location. One day over lunch with a friend before I 
+started writing I sketched out some of my vague ideas on a napkin: 
 
 <img src="https://www.fullstackpython.com/img/visuals/fsp-napkin.jpg" width="100%" class="rnd" alt="Original Full Stack Python concept drawing.">
 
+The site started as a single page 
+[static website](https://www.fullstackpython.com/static-site-generator.html) 
+but eventually was split into topic-specific pages such as:
 
-...
+* [deployments](https://www.fullstackpython.com/deployments.html)
+* [servers](https://www.fullstackpython.com/servers.html)
+* [web frameworks](https://www.fullstackpython.com/web-frameworks.html)
+* [WSGI servers](https://www.fullstackpython.com/wsgi-servers.html)
+* [source control](https://www.fullstackpython.com/source-control.html)
+* [operating systems](https://www.fullstackpython.com/operating-systems.html)
+* [web servers](https://www.fullstackpython.com/web-servers.html)
+
+Most pages were on deployment and web framework topics. I have made a 
+concerted effort to write more about 
+[data](https://www.fullstackpython.com/data.html) and 
+[development environment](https://www.fullstackpython.com/development-environments.html) 
+subjects as I continue to learn and grow my own software development skills. 
+In some ways Full Stack Python's evolution represents my own growth as a 
+programmer.
+
+The site now has over 120,000 words and 150+ pages, split between topics
+pages and [tutorial blog posts](https://www.fullstackpython.com/blog.html). 
+I've also given a few technical talks on many of these topics, such as 
+[Full Stack Python](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6NaOKD40rY) at 
+EuroPython 2014 and 
+[WebSockets in Python](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5YQbNrFfyw) at
+the San Francisco Python meetup. With so much content on the site, it's time
+to revamp many of the original pages to ensure they are still accurate and
+contain solid resources that explain those subjects. It can be sad to see so
+many awesome blog posts I used to reference that have succumbed to link rot.
+Maintenance takes up an increasing amount of time spent working on the site
+so please submit 
+[issue tickets](https://github.com/mattmakai/fullstackpython.com/issues) 
+whenever you see a 404 or a link that's not the original correct resource.
+
+Full Stack Python has now been read by over 2.5 million developers, but
+it took a long time to get to that milestone. In fact there were only a few
+hundred readers within the first year. Over time with daily updates I have
+been fortunate to grow the readership to around 125,000 developers per month.
+
+<img src="https://www.fullstackpython.com/img/visuals/traffic.jpg" width="100%" class="rnd" alt="Full Stack Python traffic growth via Google Analytics.">
+
+Watching the numbers go up has been fun but the best part is receiving 
+"thank you" emails and tweets, as well as talking to readers in person at 
+PyCon. Keep those emails coming as they keep me motivated to continue writing! 
+If you'll be at PyCon in April, I'll definitely be there at the 
+[Twilio](https://www.twilio.com/) booth or around the community
+booths where [Michael Kennedy of Talk Python to Me](https://talkpython.fm/) 
+and other Python community folks such as [Dan Bader](https://dbader.org/), 
+[Adrian Rosebrock of PyImageSearch](https://www.pyimagesearch.com/)
+[Bob Belderbos of PyBites](https://pybit.es/) and the 
+[Real Python](https://realpython.com) guys will also be hanging out.
+
+It's been a real pleasure working on Full Stack Python over the past five
+years and I'm really excited for what's coming for the site in the next 
+five years. The 
+[change log page](https://www.fullstackpython.com/change-log.html) contains
+a complete list of major modifications and 
+[future directions](https://www.fullstackpython.com/future-directions.html)
+has some insight into my thought process for creating additional content.
 
 Got questions or comments about 
 [Full Stack Python](https://www.fullstackpython.com/)? Send me an email or 

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