Introduction
The web framework market is an extremely competitive environment, with many programming languages and framework design philosophies to choose from. But if you need to build web-based software with quick turnaround times and a scripting language, there’s a high probability the Django framework – or something built with it – will be your top choice.
Django has competitors, but even its nearest competitor in the Python ecosystem, the Flask framework
has about one-fourth the mind share of Django, based on the benchmark of worldwide Google searches
made for Django vs. Flask.1 Outside the Python ecosystem, but still in the scripting language segment, the Ruby on Rails framework – which emerged along the same time as Django and follows a similar design philosophy – has always maintained an almost equal mind share with Django, as it can also be proven by the amount of worldwide Google search activity.
So what makes the Django framework such a strong choice for web development? It provides a rapid
development foundation to create complex web applications. A rapidness that is provided by a modular
and simple philosophy of not repeating constructs and logic throughout a project’s structure (a.k.a. the DRY principle or Don’t Repeat Yourself principle). And it’s this DRY principle, which has given way to a thriving community, as well as a multitude of packages and other frameworks based on the Django framework. Over 10 years after its initial release, there’s now a full-fledged CMS (Content Management System), a turn-key e-commerce platform and over 3000 packages, all built or designed to work with the Django framework. Not to mention, there are two annual conferences in the United States and Europe to showcase Django innovations.
This book will walk you through the many core concepts associated with the Django framework. It will help you learn standard and best practices that are essential to creating effective Django projects. And if and when you use a Django-based package or framework, these same foundations will help you navigate the more complex concepts and avoid any blind spots that are part of the core Django framework
Contents at a Glance
About the Author
About the Technical Reviewer
Acknowledgments
Introduction
■Chapter 1: Introduction to the Django Framework
■Chapter 2: Django Urls and Views
■Chapter 3: Django Templates
■Chapter 4: Jinja Templates in Django
■Chapter 5: Django Application Management
■Chapter 6: Django Forms
■Chapter 7: Django Models
■Chapter 8: Django Model Queries and Managers
■Chapter 9: Django Model Forms and Class Views
■Chapter 10: Django User Management
■Chapter 11: Django admin Management
■Chapter 12: REST Services with Django
■Appendix A: Python Basics
