Create a separate app for my REST API or place it inside my working app?

Question

I'm building simple gis system on geodjango.

The app displays a set of maps and I'm also attempting to provide a RESTFUL API for these maps.

I'm facing a decision whether to create a separate app for the API or to work inside my existing app.
The two apps are logically separate but they share the same models.

So what is considered better?

Answer 1

Although a case can be made for either of the approaches, I think keeping the APIs inside their associated apps would be a better one. Since the code in APIs is going to depend on the models, or other utility methods anyway, keeping APIs in the same app would lead to more cohesive code. Besides the very ideology behind Django apps is that they can be isolated and reused.

There used to be a similar case with storing the templates. In the initial days of Django, people used to prefer to store all the templates altogether in the same global folder (with subdirectories by the names of the app), however, in recent times even Django has started discouraging the said approach in the favour of storing templates in the respective app itself.