What is Python Django and used for
In this Python tutorial, we will learn what is python Django, various features of Python Django, and try to understand what is python Django is used for. The detailed list of topics covered in the article is given below.
- What is Django
- History of Django
- What is python django used for
- Features of Django
- Django Architecture
- Companies using Django
What is Python Django
- Django is a popular python-based framework, and it is used for web development. It is a high-level web framework that allows building secure and maintainable websites quickly.
- Django is a free and open-source framework, which means it is free to use.
- Django also follows Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, which is now the standard for web application development.
- It also has a vibrant and active community, excellent documentation, and a variety of free and paid support options.
History of Django
Django was created between 2003 and 2005 by Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison at Lawrence Journal-World newspaper. It was started as an internal project at Lawrence Journal-World newspaper.
Sometimes the web development team at Lawrence Journal-World newspaper had to develop new features or even complete applications in a short period of time. As a result, Django was created to meet the tight deadlines of news websites while still keeping the development process neat and maintainable.
By 2005, Django had grown enough to manage lots of high sites, so the developers decided to make it an open-source project. So, Django was released under the BSD license in 2005. And the project was named after a famous jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt.
To maintain Django, a foundation called the Django Software Foundation (DSF) was founded in 2008.
From its first release (1.0) in September 2008 to the most recent version 3.1, Django has continued to evolve and improve.
What is python django used for
Django was initially designed to develop web applications for a newspaper company, the Lawrence Journal-World. So, it is fantastic at handling projects with a lot of text content, media files, and high traffic. However, the use of this framework isn’t limited to the publishing business only.
With each new release in Django, new features are added, making it efficient enough to build any type of web application. We can use Django to develop any type of web application from a social media website to an e-commerce store.
Here are some of the areas where Django is used nowadays.
- Platforms with B2B CRM systems, Custom CRM systems
- Platforms with features for data analyzing, filtration, etc.
- Creating admin dashboards
- Creating an emailing system
- Creating a verification system
- Creating algorithm-based generators
- Platforms with machine learning
Features of Django
So till now, we have understood what is a Django framework and for what purpose it is been used. Now, let’s understand why Django is one of the most popular frameworks for web development.
Django offers a large variety of features which makes the development process clean and efficient. It combines many functionalities making it a complete framework. Here is a list of some of the main features that Django offers.
- Open-Source– Django is an open-source python framework, which means we can download and use it for free. This helps to reduce the overall cost of the application.
- Fast Development– Django was designed with the goal of creating a framework that would allow developers to develop web applications in less time. So, Django reduces the project implementation, allowing rapid web development.
- Scalable– Django is scalable in nature, which means we can easily migrate from a small-scale application to a large-scale application.
- Secure– Django is a secure framework as it provides tools to assist developers to avoid typical security problems. It also provides an authentication system to store manage user accounts and passwords.
- Largely supported libraries– Django contains a large set of modules and libraries that can be used to manage different web development tasks.
- Admin Interface– Django comes with a build-in admin interface. So, we don’t need to build it from the scratch. Also, we can customize the interface according to the requirements.
- Large Community– As Django is one of the most popular web development framework. So, it has a large and friendly community as well as channels for sharing and connecting.
Django Architecture
Django follows its own convention of Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture named Model View Template (MVT). The MVT is a software design pattern that mainly consists of 3 components Model, View, and Template.
The Model in the MVT architecture is a data access layer that is used to handle data. The model plays a crucial in connecting the entire architecture to the database. Each model is linked to a single database table and we use the models.py file.
The View in MVT architecture is used to define the overall logic of the data flow. For this implementation, we use the view.py file. Additionally, the purpose of the view file is to send the responses to the appropriate user.
The Template in the MVT architecture is a presentation layer that handles the user interface.
Next, let’s understand the workflow of Django using MVT architecture.
So, whenever a user requests some resource then Django acts as a controller and looks for the resource in the urls.py file. If the URL maps then the view associated with that URL is called. After this, the view interacts with the model and template and renders the template. In the end, Django responds to the user and returns the template as a response.
For more details, you can also refer to the following official documentation.
Companies using Django
So, Django is simple and easy to use, additionally, it offers so many things which make it a perfect framework for any type of web application.
Django is so efficient that some of the big companies are also using it for their web application. Here are some of the companies which use Django.
- Spotify
- Mozilla
- National Geographic
- Bitbucket
- Eventbrite
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So in this tutorial, we have learned about the Django framework, its features, and understood what Django is used for. And in this article, we have covered the following topics.
- What is Django
- History of Django
- What is python django used for
- Features of Django
- Django Architecture
- Companies using Django
I am Bijay Kumar, a Microsoft MVP in SharePoint. Apart from SharePoint, I started working on Python, Machine learning, and artificial intelligence for the last 5 years. During this time I got expertise in various Python libraries also like Tkinter, Pandas, NumPy, Turtle, Django, Matplotlib, Tensorflow, Scipy, Scikit-Learn, etc… for various clients in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Check out my profile.
What is Django (Python)?
Django is an open-source web framework written in the Python programming language. Named after the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, it is used by some of the largest websites in the world including Instagram, Mozilla, and NASA, but also lightweight enough to be a popular choice for weekend side projects and startups. Its «batteries-included» approach means a powerful website can be generated quickly in the hands of a skilled developer.
Web Framework
A «web framework» is software that standardizes and abstracts away common difficulties and redundancies involved in making a website. For example, most websites need to connect to a database, deploy to a server, handle URL routing, security, user registration, generate templates, and so on. In the early days, programmers had to do all of this from scratch but they quickly recognized the commonalities and started creating web frameworks.
These days, it is rare to write a website from scratch. Web frameworks exist for every modern programming languages including Rails for Ruby, Express for JavaScript, and Django or Flask for Python.
Beyond the underlying programming language, the major difference between competing web frameworks is one of approach: Ruby on Rails and Django both adopt a «batteries-included» frameworks approach whereas Flask and Express are minimal microframeworks. You can think of it as the difference between being given a bag of Legos or a pre-built truck made out of Legos. Django and Rails are faster to start using and come with many built-in guardrails to prevent bad practices. Flask and Express require more customization upfront but allow for total control. See Django vs Flask for a detailed comparison of the two most popular Python web frameworks and the pros/cons of each approach.
Python
Python is one of the most popular programming languages in the world because it is friendly to newcomers, extremely powerful, and has a robust ecosystem of libraries like Django that provide additional functionality. Python recently replaced Java as the most popular programming language at top U.S. universities and is growing rapidly among professional programmers as well, as evidenced by its growth on StackOverflow.
Python emphasizes readability and developer friendliness, as evidenced by its «Hello, World» syntax. Here it is in Python:
class HelloWorldApp public static void main(String[] args) System.out.println("Hello World!"); > >
Even if you know nothing about either programming language, it is clear at a glance that Python is the easier of the two to understand.
Background
Django was initially developed by web programmers at the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper, specifically Adrian Holovaty, Simon Willison, and Jacob Kaplan-Moss. It was first released to the public as an open source package in 2005 and is currently maintained by the non-profit Django Software Foundation. The source code is freely available online.
Key Features
Django adopts a «batteries-included» approach similar to Python and comes with a number of built-in features including an extensible authentication system, robust admin app, lightweight testing web server, and support for multiple databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and SQLite. It is known for its leading security best practices and comes with comprehensive documentation, available either online or as a PDF/ePUB for offline consumption.
As a mature project, Django rarely makes breaking changes and has a clear deprecation schedule for any updates. A major new version is released every nine months or so with monthly patch releases for security and bug fixes.
There is also a vibrant ecosystem of third-party applications—visible on the Django Packages site—which provide additional functionality. Over time, the most popular packages are often rolled into Django itself.
Community
A common saying among Django developers is «Come for the framework, stay for the community.» It is known for being a welcoming and encouraging community, which is not always the case in technology. There are annual DjangoCon conferences hosted in the U.S, Europe, Australia, and Africa, as well as meetups in many major cities.
Questions about Django can be asked on the official Django forum and newcomers are encourage to contribute to Django itself.
The weekly Django Chat podcast features interviews with key figures in the community as well as deep dives on various core features. There is also a weekly Django News newsletter with updates on events, tutorials, and third-party packages.
Conclusion
If you’d like to learn more about Django and try it out yourself, there is an official tutorial as well as many more beginner friendly resources available on LearnDjango.com.
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