Django
Django, a popular Python framework for web applications with a "batteries included" philosophy, is widely used. The batteries-included principle is to include the functionality needed for web application development in the framework itself rather than as separate libraries.
Django includes features such as Authentication, URL Routing, a Template Engine, an Object-Relational Mapper (ORM), database schema migrations, and a template engine.
This functionality is included in the Django framework, unlike Flask, which relies on a library like Flask Login for user Authentication.
Batteries-included or extensibility are just two ways of tackling framework development. The two approaches are not inherently superior.
Django implements the concept of web frameworks. You can learn how to put these components together by reading the chapter on web development or viewing the contents table for all topics.
What Makes Django Such A Great Web Framework?
Since the creation of Django, the project has grown in terms of stability, performance, and community. On the internet and in books, you can find detailed tutorials on good practices.
Each release of the framework adds new features, such as migrations to databases.
Django is an excellent framework for Python web developers to start with because it has some of the most comprehensive documentation and tutorials available.
Django groups are functional in many cities, such as Django District and Django San Francisco Django. This allows new django backend developers to get assistance when they run into problems.
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Django Books and Tutorials
You can find a lot of resources for Django that are free or very low-cost. Check the versions used for each article you read.
Django has been around for over ten years, and there have been many updates. These resources have been designed for beginners. You can find more advanced Django tutorials in the following section if you're already familiar with Django.
- This is a comprehensive set of introductions for the popular Python web framework.
This book was praised by several developers for helping them to get past the framework's initial learning curve.
- This tutorial will help you create your first web app without assuming any previous knowledge about Python or Django.
- The seven parts of A Complete Beginner's Guide To Django build up a Django app incrementally and then deploy it in the last post.
These seven parts include:
- Getting Started
- Fundamentals
- Advanced Concepts
- Authentication
- Django ORM
- Class Based Views
- Deployment
- Test-Driven Python Development focuses on Django web development and JavaScript.
The book uses a Django-based website as an example to demonstrate how test-driven (TDD) can be done.
NoSQL is covered, as well as WebSockets, asynchronous response, and NoSQL.
You can read the book online or purchase a hard copy from O'Reilly.
- Django OverIQ, a tutorial project for beginners, covers all the necessary features like Django ORM or Django Templates.
- Django's subreddit is a great place to find the most recent resources to learn Django.
It also allows you to post questions.
- This Django Tutorial shows you how to create a new project using Twitter Bootstrap.
Bower.
Requests.
and the GitHub SDK.
- It is essential for new Django developers to know how to organize the files and directories within projects.
- Django For Beginners: Create Websites with Python, And Django By William S.
Vincent will take you from a total beginner into a confident web developer using Django & Python.
Django Videos
Do you want to see Django videos as well as articles? On the page of best Python videos, there is a section dedicated to Django web development.
Django Intermediate And Advanced Topics
The books and tutorials in this section assume you already know how to build Django but want to learn more about it.
- If you are serious about learning to develop Django sites, 2 Scoops of Django are worth your money.
- This course explains how to create a Docker-based development environment to develop and deploy RESTful APIs powered by Python Django and Django REST framework.
- The User Interaction with Forms document explains how to input data into web forms and the different input types, such as DateFields or EmailFields.
It also explains validating input.
- This three-part Django optimization tutorial covers complex subjects like profiling, Django settings, database work, and caching.
- The Caching in Django guide provides a comprehensive look at how caching works and the improvements you can expect once it is implemented.
- The author of Mental Models for class-based views provides a comparison between function-based views and class-based views and his opinions on how to understand the CBVs better.
- Every web application must work with time zones.
The blog on Python with Django will help you get started.
- The Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface, which was introduced with Django 3.0, is covered in A Guide to ASGI and Its Performance.
The guide also explains the nuances of ASGI and some gotchas you may encounter if you choose to use this interface for your web applications.
- REST APIs With Django By William S.
Vincent: Create powerful web APIs Using Python And Django is the perfect book for those who are looking to move beyond Django's basics and get up-to-speed with Django REST framework (DRF) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
The book also covers more advanced topics, such as token-based authorization and permissions.
- Django Stripe Tutorial explains how to add Stripe quickly to accept payments within a Django Web App.
- The Python Social Auth for Django Tutorial will teach you how to add social media sign-in buttons to your Django app.
- The Upgrading Django guide provides step-by-step instructions for upgrading the code of your Django project.
- Two free, open-source books will help you learn more about Django's admin interface and how to build projects for multiple customers.
- How to Create Custom Django Management Commands describes how you can expand the manage.py command list to include your custom commands within your project.
This tutorial consists of a lot of examples and expected outputs to help you learn as you go.
- Luke Plant describes his class-based views approach, which is often the subject of heated discussion in the Django Community.
They are usually criticized for being "too magical" or time-saving.
- Django Apps Checklist provides some guidelines for creating reusable Django applications.
Django Migrations
- Paul Hallett, based on his experiences working with django-twilio's package, wrote a guide to upgrading Django 1.7 apps.
- Real Python's Migrations Primer explores how to use and compare the Django 1.7 built-in migrations with South's migrations.
- The "Upgrading To Django 1.1.7" series is a wonderful resource for learning what has changed and how you may modify your Django applications.
All four parts of the series are available for reading.
- Django Migrations Without Downtimes demonstrates one possible way to perform online schema migrations using Django.
- The four ways that you can extend the User Model included with Django are presented in How to Expand Django User Model.
It is a common scenario for Django projects, except for the most simple ones.
- The article Creating Custom User Models in Django explains how to build a Django custom user model that allows an email address to be used instead of usernames as the main identifier for users.
Django Channels
Django's 1.9 introduces a brand new feature called Channels. It is available as an independent app. In 2.0+, they can be integrated into the framework.
The Channels feature "real-time," full-duplex communication between the client and server using WebSockets.
- The tutorial below shows you how to start using Django Channels for your project.
- This repository of channel examples contains several good projects to start with, such as live blogs and chat applications that can be used as base code.
- This course explains how to build a real-time taxi app using Django Channels.
It also demonstrates the use of Angular and Docker.
You'll also learn to control the flow of the app with Angular and how Django Channels can be used for client/server communications.
Also Read: The Evolution of Django Development: From Inception to the Present
Django Testing
- This post, Integrating Front End Tools With Django, will help you to understand how Gulp can be used to handle front-end tools on Django development sites and production websites.
- Django Testing Cheat Sheet includes many scenarios that are common for Django application testing, such as POST requests, headers of requests, authentication, and a large number of Django ORM model fields.
- If you are still trying to figure out where to start, Getting Started With Django Testing can help.
- The Testing in Django book provides many examples of how to test the code for your Django projects.
- Selenium is used to automate Django browser tests.
Django MVC Frameworks with JavaScript
On their pages, you can find resources on JavaScript MVC Frameworks like Angular React Vue.js.
Django ORM
Django has its own object-relational mapping (ORM), which is commonly referred to by the name "the Django ORM." Learn more about Django ORM by visiting its page.
Media Files And Static Files
Django newbies need help understanding how static files and media are handled. The static content page and these resources are helpful for learning how to handle the files correctly.
- The guide Using Amazon S3 for Static and Media Files on your Django Site is an excellent answer to the question that's often asked regarding static and media file serving.
- The article Loading Django FileFields and ImageFields From the File System shows you how to use a model file with an image field from your file system.
- The article Storing Django Static Files and Media Files in Amazon S3 shows you how to configure Django so that it can load and serve static files and media files via Amazon S3 buckets, both public and private.
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Django Project Templates
The project templates are not the same as a template engine. They generate boilerplate code to create a Django base project and optional libraries, which are commonly used in django application development.
- Caktus Group Django Project Template is Django 2.2.2+ compatible.
- Cookiecutter Django, a template for Audrey Roy's Cookiecutter by Daniel Greenfeld.
Heroku is ready to deploy the template's results.
- The PyDanny and Audrey Roy project template for Two Scoops Django is the same.
This is a scaffold that's similar to the one described in Two Scoops of Django.
- Sugar Dough, a Django template by Mozilla, is compatible with Cookiecutter.
Open-Source Django Example Projects
When you're trying to learn how to create your own project, reading open-source code is a great way to get started.
The Django code and example projects page has many other examples.
- Openduty, a similar system to PagerDuty for checking the status of a web page and sending alerts, is called Openduty.
- Courtside is a web-based application for pick-up sports written by PyCoders Weekly's author.
- Parts 1 and 2 of the Django Interactive Voice Response System web application repository demonstrate how to develop an amazing Django app.
A blog with detailed descriptions of each step is also available.
- Taiga, a project-management tool that uses AngularJS and Django for the front end, is built using Django.
- Chowist, a web-based application, replicates the core features of Yelp while adding a few more bells.
Django: Advantages And Disadvantages
It's worth looking at why Django is the best framework for your project. You can save a great deal of time by knowing which tasks are best suited to a particular framework.
We'll cover the upsides and disadvantages of Django.
Django's Pros
Scalability and Speed
Django's whole purpose is to make it possible to scale projects up and down quickly. This is why it is so popular with tech startups.
Django allows web developers to concentrate on bigger projects by avoiding the tedious manual work that is normally involved.
Support for the Community
The open-source and widespread nature of Django has another advantage: the amount of help available. Django has been around for over 16 years, which is half the lifetime of Python.
With such a wide range of applications and a long history of success, the Django Community should not be viewed as surprising.
The official Django website is a great place to begin if you are new to Django. You'll be able to find RSS feeds, email lists, and channels to help you get to know the community and what to do.
It may seem like it could be more helpful, but anyone who has been stuck with a code piece knows the value of being able to search online to find out how others have solved their problem or check for possible improvements.
Documentation
Django has one of the most comprehensive documentation sets among open-source frameworks. It's because the documentation is precise, exact, and well-organized for new web developers learning Python.
The majority of solutions are ready to use, allowing you to get started quickly.
They have put together a handy and informative guide for the documentation. It has different sections depending on the way you wish to use the language.
You can find the answers you need here, whether you want to know how to make your code faster or more secure or even learn about Django's forms.
Security
Django has a lot of advantages that are often overlooked. Every backend framework that deals with data and accounts must be capable of protecting the users.
Django includes a system of user Authentication, along with protection against Clickjacking and XSS. It also supports HTTPS. Django has a lot of security features, but the best part is that they are already configured.
Versatility
Django's scalability is not just external. It extends into what you are building. Django can handle anything, whether it's a social network or a complex content management system.
It can run complex data analyses or machine learning.
Cons of Django
Not Suitable For Simpler Projects
Django, as a framework of a high level, lends itself to more complex features. If you're looking for a microframework that can handle smaller projects with a high potential for growth, Flask may be the best option for web developers.
We've created a complete beginner's guide for the Flask Microframework if you want to learn more.
This Can Lead To Slow Websites
Django can be a high-speed framework to use, but it is only sometimes the fastest. This is not due to Django or the Python programming language but rather to how many resources the framework operates.
You'll notice that the more requests you send to databases, etc., the worse the performance.
This means that while it is fun to change directions and scale up quickly at a moment's notice, you should always keep an eye on the architecture of your project.
This could lead to speed issues down the road. This can be seen only at the enormous scale of your application. The Django community and documentation will give you the tools to fix these issues.
To Work The System, You Need To Be Able To Understand Everything
Django can sometimes be too large and complex, requiring you to understand the entire structure plan before you begin building.
The community and support available can help you with this since there are many resources to choose from.
Conventions Are Not Followed
Coding conventions are a set of guidelines to be followed when working with a framework. They're like a guidebook.
Django does not use conventions like Rails. This can be a turn-off for some programmers and slow down their progress.
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Django Full Stack Development Journey
To become a Django Full Stack Developer, you will need to learn and gain practical experience on both the front-end as well as back-end using Django.
This is a detailed step-by-step description of a typical Django full-stack developer journey.
- A Foundation for Programming and Web Development: To dive into Django, you will need to have a solid foundation of programming concepts, in this case, Python, as well as essential web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
-
Django Introduction: Begin by learning what Django does and where it fits in the ecosystem of web development.
Learn about the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture and how Django implements it as the Model-View-Template (MVT) pattern.
-
Installation and Setup: Install Django, and configure your development environment.
How to manage and create virtual environments that isolate your project's dependencies.
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Django Basics: Get acquainted with Django's core components, such as models, views, and templates.
Create a simple web application.
Understand the data flow between parts.
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Database Management: Learn how to use Django's built-in Object-Relational Mapping system (ORM), which allows you to work with databases.
You will learn how to create models, manage migrations, and perform CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete).
-
Front-End and Templates: Learn how to build dynamic, responsive interfaces for the front end using Django's template engine.
Use HTML, CSS, and template tags in order to render the data on the backend.
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User Authorization and Authentication: Learn to implement registration, login, and Authentication of users using Django's Authentication system.
Learn how to restrict user access to specific parts of your app.
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RESTful APIs: Learn how to build RESTful APIs with Django or other libraries, such as Django Rest Framework.
Serialization, Authentication, and API responses are covered.
-
Front-End Framework Integration: Learn how to integrate front-end frameworks such as React, Vue.js, or Angular.
You can create more dynamic and interactive user interfaces.
-
Libraries and Packages from Third Parties: Find and use third-party packages to enhance Django functionality.
Some examples include handling file uploads and integrating payment APIs.
-
Hosting and Deployment: Discover how to host your Django app on a production server.
Discover hosting solutions like AWS Heroku DigitalOcean or traditional web hosts.
Set up server configurations, databases, and automated Deployment pipelines.
-
Performance Optimizing: Learn techniques for optimizing the performance of Django applications.
It includes caching and database optimization.
-
Debugging and Testing: Learn how to test your Django applications manually or with automated frameworks.
You are debugging and Troubleshooting Issues Effectively.
-
Advanced Topics and Continuous Learning: Keep up with Django's latest releases and best practices.
Learn more about advanced topics such as asynchronous programming and WebSockets.
You can also learn how to scale larger applications.
-
Projects in Real Life: Working on projects in real life is the best way to improve your skills.
Experience gained from building personal projects and contributing to Django open-source projects is valuable.
- Networking and Portfolio: Use social media sites like LinkedIn or GitHub to network with potential employers and other developers.
It takes practice and time to become proficient in Django Full Stack Development.
You will excel in your career if you are constantly working on new projects and curious about the latest technologies and techniques.
Summary:
Django's full-stack development is an exciting journey that combines creativity, logic, and innovation. You'll become a highly skilled web developer as you work through Django's layers.
It is only through the challenges of this journey that you will gain true expertise. You are only at the beginning of your journey as a Django Full Stack Developer. There are an infinite number of alternatives to investigate.
Prepare to embark on a remarkable voyage, as the Django Full Stack Development world awaits with eagerness your innovations and contributions.
Paul is a highly skilled Full Stack Developer with a solid educational background that includes a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's degree in Software Engineering, as well as a decade of hands-on experience. Certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect, and Agile Scrum Master bolster his knowledge. Paul's excellent contributions to the software development industry have garnered him a slew of prizes and accolades, cementing his status as a top-tier professional. Aside from coding, he finds relief in her interests, which include hiking through beautiful landscapes, finding creative outlets through painting, and giving back to the community by participating in local tech education programmer.
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