Task queues handle background work that need to be processed outside the usual HTTP request-response cycle. These tasks are handled asynchronously because HTTP requests must be responded back to by the server as fast as possible otherwise the user experience in the web browser will suffer. The most common types of jobs for task queues include
calculating computationally expensive data analytics
scheduling periodic jobs such as batch processes
spreading out large numbers of independent database inserts over time instead of all at once
aggregating collected data values on a fixed interval, such as every 15 minutes
The Celery distributed task queue is the most commonly used Python library for handling asynchronous tasks and scheduling.
The RQ (Redis Queue) is a simple Python library for queueing jobs and processing them in the background with workers. RQ is backed by Redis and it is designed to have a low barrier to entry. The intro post contains information on design decisions and how to use RQ.
Taskmaster is a lightweight simple distributed queue for handling large volumes of one-off tasks.
Distributing work without Celery provides a scenario in which Celery and RabbitMQ are not the right tool for scheduling asynchronous jobs.
Queues.io is a collection of task queue systems with short summaries for each one. The task queues are not all compatible with Python but ones that work with it are tagged with the "Python" keyword.
Why Task Queues is a presentation for what task queues are and why they are needed.
How to use Celery with RabbitMQ is a detail walkthrough for using these tools on an Ubuntu VPS.
Heroku has a clear walkthrough for using RQ for background tasks.
Introducing Celery for Python+Django provides an introduction to the Celery task queue.
The "Django in Production" series by Rob Golding contains a post specifically on Background Tasks.
Asynchronous Processing in Web Applications Part One and Part Two are great reads for understanding the difference between a task queue and why you shouldn't use your database as one.
