Introduction to Django
Django is a high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. Built by experienced developers, it takes care of much of the hassle of web development, so you can focus on writing your app without needing to reinvent the wheel.
1 Core Philosophy & Features
- Ridiculously Fast: Designed to help developers take applications from concept to completion as quickly as possible.
- Reassuringly Secure: Helps developers avoid common security mistakes like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and CSRF.
- Exceedingly Scalable: Capable of handling high traffic volumes (used by Instagram, Pinterest, and Disqus).
- Batteries Included: Ships with an ORM, authentication panel, admin site, form validation, and sitemap handlers out of the box.
2 MTV Architecture
Django follows the Model-Template-View (MTV) architectural pattern, which is a variation of the MVC design pattern:
- Model: Defines the data structure and maps directly to database tables.
- Template: The presentation layer (HTML rendering logic).
- View: The business logic handler that receives requests, queries models, and renders templates.
3 Quick Contrast: Django vs Flask
| Feature | Django | Flask |
|---|---|---|
| Style | Batteries-included, opinionated framework | Micro-framework, customizable & lightweight |
| Admin Panel | Built-in automatically | Requires extension or manual build |
| ORM | Built-in Django ORM | Requires SQLAlchemy or other library |
| Project Layout | Strict, organized sub-apps | Flexible single-file layout possible |
4 Code Challenge
Challenge: Write a simple description summarizing why Django's "batteries-included" approach is highly beneficial for rapidly prototyping an e-commerce platform.