Need guidance on user authentication

[Stefan]

Hello!

I'd like to ask for some tips and guidance on user authentication.

I'm trying to build a web application (Python GAE service + JavaScript web app). I want to support multiple users, so that every user can store their own data.

What I need is:

- sign up mechanism (creating an account)

- sign in mechanism (authentication)

- unique name for user (to be a part of resource name, i.e. http://host/<user_name>/resource)

In this context, could someone please outline the difference between Google Account API and OAuth API?

As far as I understand, the difference is that Google Account API requires users to have a Google Account for signing in, whereas OAuth allows them to use other providers (including Google Accounts), correct?

As for the unique name, will I have to create my own user name checking when signing up (if I don't want to show the e-mails to identify users) or is there an existing service or library I could use?

Stefan