Django is a powerful web framework of Python and it can do a lot of things. If you are confused about what it does, we would surely clarify it for you. You would be appreciating the capabilities of Django at the end of this article for sure.
The high-level understanding is that it is a framework that is used for back-end development in Python. We will understand it in depth further. But initially, we must know that what exactly a Framework is and what are its uses.
Django As A Framework
We just need to understand 3 answers to the below questions:
- What is a Framework?
It is a platform that contains a collection of patterns and libraries; considered as a foundation and used for the development of an application.
- Why we use Frameworks?
It helps you to build the application, it skips some of your work due to many things in-built and pre-defined classes or functions. You can say that a framework gives you a sub-structure before building an application and you do not have to write things from scratch.
- How does it work?
You can say that a framework acts as an intermediate between the internet and your code. Let’s visualize how it works.
What Is Django & Why Do We Use It?
Django is a backend web framework that is highly stable and scalable. Usually, you’ll see people or articles saying that it is a high level and open-source framework, but do you know what exactly they meant?
- “High-level framework”- In layman terms, less coding more developing. That means most of the things are built-in; like libraries, packages, API, DB, Admin UI, etc.
- “Open Source”- This means all the code is available, you can find it on GitHub. There are a humongous community and contributors available there
The framework is fast, secure, and easy to learn, that is why it is recommended for back-end development. Some other features are:
- Cross-Platform- This means that Django codebase would run easily on Windows, Linux, or Mac.
- Free– The code is easily available, moreover there is no license fee or no vendor lock.
- Easy – If you know Python, you’ll grasp Django easily because it’s all Python code.
Pre-Requisites: Python, Command-line, Linux, DBMS, REST APIs, JSON
You are now aware that what Django is and what are its characteristics, but do you really know that what exactly it does or handles?
Let’s see; The web framework like Django basically handles the control flow. Control Flow comprises:
- HTTP
- Scheduling
- URL Routing
- Templating
- Security
- URL Mapping
- Database Manipulation etc.
How Does Django Work?
For understanding Django, we must be aware of its architecture. You must be aware of MVC architecture- Model, View, and Controller. Django also works on similar architecture with few changes; i.e., MVT- Model, View, and Template.
So, in Django, the slight difference is that “View” is actually controller and “Template” is View. The model remains the same.
Confused? Let’s visualize it:
So, in MVT:
The model has all Data Schema, relational tables, and data elements.
The view has the actual logic, the code; for authentication, API calls, or access control.
The template has the main presentation, which is the template engine. There is a built-in template engine in Django.
You can check out this article to learn the differences between MVC and MVT in detail.
Process: The Web Browser/Client sends a request to the Web Server. Here URL dispatcher comes into play, it helps the server to view the code using a simple pattern matching language. The request goes into the app/view logic where the main code logic runs, this is then mapped to the model which saves data into the tables required using its connection with the database.
Now all this data goes as a response to the template, using this data a visual presentation is prepared, and then it goes back as a response to the web browser/client which is actually what is visible on the screen.
Why Should You Use Django?
We actually do have many other frameworks in Python like- Flask, TurboGears, Bottle, CherryPy, etc; but Django is the famous one and is used the most. It is famous because of various reasons, which are:
- Fast – First of all, it needs very less configurations which simplifies a developer’s pain in the beginning stage. It uses Rapid Development methodology i.e you can overlap your work or iterations and it won’t be a problem.
- A great feature- Bundles, these are script loaders and contains all the media files within a single bundle under just one filename.
- Security- It has cross-site forgery, ClickJacking, and SQL Injection protection. It also protects your application from website hack and many more such firewalls.
- Built-in Authorization and Authentication both at the same time.
- Built-in Admin UI- This is one of the most robust and powerful features of Django. This gives you an automatic Admin User Interface. Check out its features!!
- Built-in web server– It saves your time and effort, so no more AJAX calls to be made. It gives you an utterly featured web server framework.
- Object-relational mapper– This feature has the code that writes SQL for you.
- It builds an API itself and connects with it and use it as a data source. It also handles Inputs and Outputs of data itself.
- Scalability – The highest traffic issues are solved with Django very smoothly, quickly, and flexibly.
Applications (Or Use Cases) Of Django
Now that you are aware of the uses and capabilities of Django, let’s discuss the areas where this could be used. You can use it for:
- E-commerce websites
- Social Networking
- Content Management System
- SaaS
If you want to see some more examples of Django applications, you can check out the article I wrote on Django Project Ideas.
There are many more applications where Django could be used. Talking of applications, in present-day, some of the huge companies or brands use Django; like-
- Udemy
- Spotify
- Dropbox
- Disqus
- YouTube
- BitBucket
- The Washington Post
- Eventbrite
- Mozilla
- NASA
- Quora
If you can’t figure out building projects in Django by yourself, I suggest you take the help of an online course which will only cost a few bucks. The Python Django Dev To Deployment course by Brad Traversy is a great course I found on Udemy. Click here to check its price and syllabus.
Conclusion
So as promised, all the basics have been covered. I hope this was helpful and now you must have some clarity on the topic. We covered the basic understanding of frameworks and Django.
Being a backend framework there is much more stuff happening which we are not aware of but for that, we have to go in-depth. Anyhow, we now have a high-level understanding that how it is different from other frameworks, what other features it contains, how it is handled, and its architecture and working.
Moreover, you know the capabilities of Django and the areas where it could be used. Since we covered all this, now you must be able to figure out what you have to do with Django!! So what are you waiting for?
Go, programmers!! Build your own websites/applications with so much ease and I assure you it would be interesting and amazing.
Thanks for reading.
