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Django

Origin

Created by Lawrence Journal-World newspaper in 2003.

  • they created multiple websites which led to repeated code and design patterns.

Open sourced in 2005.

Well written documentation is key part of Django.

Philosophy of Django

Purpose: Modularity and Reusability.

MVC

Model-View-Controller pattern is renamed to Model-View-Template in Django.

  • Pattern segregates data (models), user interfaces (views), and control logic (templates) into distinct layers.

Structure and Hierarchy

Collection of settings, configurations, and apps coordinate to form a complete entity.

  • App is a smaller, self-contained module within the project that serves a specific purpose.

App can be a blog, auth system, or other standalone functionality.

Different apps contain their own MVC.

project_name/
├── manage.py
├── project_name/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── asgi.py
│   ├─ settings.py
│   ├─ urls.py
│   ├── wsgi.py
├── app1/
├── app2/
  ...
├── static/
├── media/
├── templates/

Template Files

manage.py

  • gateway to various Django management commands.
  • tool to initiate the development server, create applications, run migrations, and more.

project_name/settings.py

  • From database configurations to middleware lists, this is where you define how your application functions.

project_name/urls.py

  • The URL dispatcher maps URLs to views.
  • This file determines which view is displayed when a specific URL is accessed.

project_name/wsgi.py

  • Web Server Gateway Interface.
  • entry point for your application when deployed on a production server.
  • bridge connecting your application to the web server, enabling it to handle incoming requests.

project_name/asgi.py

  • Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface.
  • entry point for asynchronous web servers.
  • facilitates the handling of asynchronous HTTP requests.

project_name/__init__.py

  • transforms a directory into a Python package
  • organizing and importing modules across your project

Generated Files

models.py

  • Django's ORM data structure.
  • Each model class represents a table in the database.

views.py

  • logic that defines how your application interacts with users' requests.
  • View handles data processing, rendering templates, and responding to actions.
  • Transforms user interactions to tangible responses.

tests.py

  • You write unit tests here.

admin.py

  • how your appliaction's models are presented in Django's admin interface.

migrations

  • directory with all changes in application models.

Reusable Applications

Self-contained package of code that encapsulates a specific functionality.

  • can be shared across projects without requiring extensive modifications.

Reason for reusable

Modularity

  • modular and independent
  • developed, tested, and maintained separately

Code Reusability

  • Reused in multiple projects
  • reduces development time by eliminating need to rewrite

Standardization

  • encourages consistent coding conventions

Community Contribution

  • Django’s ecosystem benefits from a wide range of open-source reusable applications.

Maintainability

  • Since reusable applications are self-contained, updates and bug fixes can be applied to the application itself without affecting the projects that use it.
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