Django, like many other web frameworks, is known for its synchronous nature when resolving client requests and it is not until version 3.2 that it provides an asynchronous mechanism for this purpose. In this article, we will explain what this means and how it affects Django applications.

What is Asynchronous Support in Django?

Asynchronous support in Django allows you to write asynchronous views, along with a fully asynchronous-enabled request stack if you are using an ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) type server like the one we use in Django Channels. Asynchronous views (controllers in the MVC) will still work under WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface), but with performance penalties and without the ability to have efficient long-running requests.

Advantages of Asynchronous Support

1. Scalability: ASGI allows Django to scale horizontally by distributing the workload across multiple processes or machines. This is especially useful for applications with high concurrency.
2. Long Running Requests: Asynchronous views can handle long running requests efficiently, such as persistent connections or slow streaming.
3. Concurrency: You can use asynchronous features, such as concurrent HTTP requests, without problems.

Implementation of Asynchronous Views

Any view can be declared asynchronous using the async def syntax. For function-based views, declare the entire view with async def. For class-based views, declare HTTP method handlers (such as get() and post()) as async def.

from django.http import JsonResponse

async def mi_vista(request):
    # Lógica asíncrona aquí
    return JsonResponse({"mensaje": "Hola, mundo asíncrono!"})

Asynchronous support in Django is a powerful feature that allows you to improve the performance and scalability of your applications.