In today’s world, you will find thousands of apps curated specifically for your requirements and needs. All of these apps offer so many features that you get confused about choosing which one is the better option. But when it comes to developing these apps, a developer needs to work on an excellent framework that can handle all the heavy-duty tasks and make them easier to implement. Well, that’s where Django comes into play; Django has everything that a developer wants. You get security, rapid development features, scalability, versatility, and even fantastic support. For multi-billion dollar companies like Facebook and even for individual developers, Django is a preferred choice of framework when time is short and the application is complex.
Today, we are going to find out why so many developers are fans of Django. We will also be seeing how Django was developed, its benefits, and applications where it has been used previously. In this article, we will give you a better idea as to whether Django can be used in your project or whether you are better off with some other programming language.
Introduction
Django, which is pronounced as “Jango,” is named after the famous jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. It is one of the most useful open-source frameworks and was first released for public usage in 2005. Django was built on the methodology of providing rapid development along with clean, pragmatic design. When web developers use the Django framework, they can quickly create a feature-rich web front end that is secure and even scalable whenever needed.
When you are thinking about creating an app, it is better to use Django as it gives you an excellent baseline. Otherwise, you will be starting from scratch, and it will take a lot more time for the project to be completed. With the use of Django, you get to benefit from greater flexibility, which cannot be said for any of the web development tools. This results in developers being able to better focus on creating a unique application.
History of Django
Django was started as an internal project at the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper in 2003. The need to develop Django took place because the team needed to keep coming up with the implementation of new features or even the entire application in just a few hours. As a result, developers came up with the Django framework, which allowed them to meet their deadlines while still making unique applications. By the summer of 2005, the Django framework’s developers were confident enough to release it for public use, and it could handle high-traffic websites.
In addition to releasing it to the public, the developers also made it completely free of charge. Since being an open-source framework, Django has gained love from developers all around the world. The developer community behind this framework is making sure Django remains bug-free all the time, and new features will be added to it on a daily basis. The original development team still keeps a close eye on all the things taking place to make sure Django remains what it was meant to be: a web framework used for building clean, maintainable, and scalable web applications.
Why do we need a Web Framework?
We have an explanation for students who have just started their careers in computer science and don’t know what a web framework is. A web framework is nothing but a bunch of library tools that do everyday tasks in web development. Moreover, a web framework tries to ease the pressure of developing tools for daily activities that need to be performed by a web application. Using an efficient framework makes it easier for a developer to save time and effort in building the application.
The main aim of the Django framework is to help developers focus on creating new features for their web applications rather than spending time on producing features using programming that is already present in other applications and can be copied from them. On the other hand, the framework also provides excellent support for the app development lifecycle’s prototyping, design, and implementation stages. Moreover, you can also simplify the ongoing maintenance of your web application.
Benefits of Django
When you become a web developer, you will be on the hunt for the best framework for building and maintaining your web application. Now you don’t have to chase anymore, because Django is one web framework that does everything and that too, with efficiency. The following are some of the significant advantages you will gain in your web development when you use the Django framework on your project.
Battery Included Approach
Many experienced developers will say this to you, but what does it mean? Well, it simply means that Django comes with many of the resources required for your development. Likewise, you don’t need to write your own code in order to add some functionalities to your project. You can quickly import the package provided by the strong community of developers in their open-source projects.
Fast Pace Development
We couldn’t emphasize this enough: developers looking to finish up their work in a short amount of time need to use Django to get things done. To work with Django, you need to have some basic knowledge, and in no time, you will be able to finish building the web application.
Python Web Framework
As a first programming language, Python is considered a great way to start your career. The features that also make it a good choice are the ease of syntax learning and having tonnes of in-built libraries. Also, the package will help users get everything arranged in one place in a short amount of time.
Security
When you are working on creating complex web applications, security becomes your primary concern at every stage of development. Django fully understands your concern and provides its best defenders to save your efforts. With the help of click-jacking, cross-scripting, and SQL injections, Django is able to build a secure wall around your web application to keep it safe from attackers. Moreover, it has an authentication process where you need to enter a user ID and password to access the content and make changes to it if you are a developer. This is another layer of protection that Django provides to developers and users as well.
How does Django code work?
If you look at a traditional data-driven website, then you will find that a web application waits for HTTP requests that it gets from a web browser or from another client as well. When the request is received, the application will start its work on getting what is needed based on the URL and possibly information about the format of POST data or GET data. After that, depending on what is required, the request will read or write the data from a database or perform other tasks that will be needed to satisfy the request.
The web browser will then get a response in return from the application, which creates a dynamic HTML page for the browser to display by inserting the information retrieved from the server. The information will be put into placeholders in an HTML template. With the use of Django web applications, you will group the code that handles all these above-mentioned steps into one separate file.
Essential Parts Of Django code
1. URLs
Indeed, you can process requests from every single URL using a single function for each individual URL. But it is more maintainable to write a separate view function that will be responsible for handling each resource. On the other hand, a URL mapper will be used in order to redirect HTTP requests to the appropriate view, which is defined by the basics of the URL request. In addition to this, a URL mapper can also match the particular pattern of strings or digits that appear in the URL, and then it will pass them as data in the view function.
2. View
A view is nothing but a request handler function, and it is responsible for receiving and returning HTTP responses. Views will access the data that is needed to satisfy the needs of requests. Also, it will delegate the formatting response to templates.
3. Caching
Creating content that is computationally intensive becomes easier with the use of Django’s flexible caching. So that you can store all or part of the rendered page, this will keep the page from re-rendering the specific parts that have already been rendered earlier.
4. Serialising Data
With Django, you can serialize and serve your data with ease as XML or JASON. It is necessary to develop web services where data is consumed so other applications or sites can use it. On the other hand, it is essential that the rendering of the website be dependent on client-side code.
5. Models
Models are used to define the structure of an application’s data using Python objects. Also, it will provide a mechanism to manage and query records that are part of a database.
6. Forms
HTML forms are like filling in the blanks for your website viewers. They serve the data, and then it is processed by the server, where the server will do as requested by the website owner. With the use of Django, you can simplify form creation, validation, and processing.
7. Templates
A template is nothing but a text file that is developed to provide information about the structure and layout of a file where placeholders are required to be filled in to represent the website’s actual content. Many times, a view is used to create the code dynamically via HTML templates. You need to keep in mind templates because they can be used to define the structure of any file, so it is not necessary that the file be present in HTML.
Limitations of Django
Django has a number of functionalities and features which you might not even need when developing a web application. But every technology has a fair number of limitations, and in the same way, Django also has some disadvantages, which we are going to talk about in this section.
1. Django Is Monolithic
This could be a feature for some, but it could also turn out to be a drawback for some. Django works with a specific set of files and pre-defined variables. As a result, you need to learn about them before you create any project using Django. If you don’t follow these strict rules of development, known as “The Django Way,” you might not be able to deploy anything on Django.
2. Django should not be used for Small Scale Projects
The functionality that Django has to offer comes from lots of code. This also results in increased server processing and time consumption. If you are running a low-end website that is not using top-of-the-line hardware on its server, it can cause hardware bandwidth issues.
3. Steep Learning Curve
Apart from that, another issue that you need to think about is the steep learning curve. Even though it is a clear and straightforward framework when it comes to usage, the functionality it brings to the table is way too much to learn in one go. Django is one of the oldest frameworks still growing at a much slower pace than before, making it hard for users to master it.
4. Multiple Request Issue
Django is unlike any other framework; for the most part, this is a good thing, but in some rare cases, it can cause problems. And one of the rare cases is when you are trying to send multiple requests simultaneously. There are requests for handling individual processes, and then it takes a bit of time for each request to be fulfilled. The time taken to get it done using Django could easily stretch longer than the average time. Because Django doesn’t provide support for multiple requests, it wants developers to look at each individual process and make a decision accordingly.
Applications where Django is used
Django is an open-source toolkit that has a highly customizable architecture. That’s why it encourages developers to create an application in a short time and with simple programming techniques. Given below are the applications that are built using Django; each of them has used Django in one way or the other to get things done, so here is the list of examples.
1. Disqus
This is considered to be one of the best Django projects ever built. It is a popular plug-in for comments. It also includes an advanced analytical tool and ad serving that can be customized.The developers who built Disqus were able to create it from scratch using Django and developed it in such a way that the project could quickly scale up when needed.
2. Instagram
The most popular social media platform of the current time was developed using Python and the Django framework. The main reason for choosing Django was to process a massive amount of data and manage an even more significant number of interactions with the content every single second.
3. Spotify
You might be using this application to listen to your favourite songs, but did you know the developers of Spotify used Django to access a vast library of music accessible to every single user of this application?
4. YouTube
There is no absolutely any need to introduce YouTube, as it has become commonplace to watch videos online. At the start, YouTube was a PHP-based project, but it had a constant chase to improve performance and add in more functionalities. This resulted in YouTube developers starting to use Python as well. The new features and upgrades are required to be done in the shortest amount of time; that’s where Django comes in to make the implementation of upgrades effortless.
5. Washington Post
The world of news is ever-changing. As a result, most media companies rely on Django to automatically load their most recent news on specific placeholders with no delays.On the other hand, it was the use of Django that helped in maintaining the high traffic of the Washington Post, thus giving it reliable performance.
6. Dropbox
Dropbox is a widely known cloud storage service that stores all different types of data. In addition to this, this cloud service is available for a number of devices. As a result, users can access the content that is present in the cloud from any device, anywhere.
Dropbox’s server and desktop client are powered by Python, and the Django framework is used to store data; synchronization and sharing options were added after Django was implemented.
Wrapping Up
That’s all there is to it. This is what Django is all about; it is a solid framework that is used on some of the world’s most complex and high-traffic websites. It is regarded as the ideal solution for both startups and large corporations. We hope that after reading this article, you will have a better understanding of the Django framework.
On the other hand, if you have a tight deadline, Django will be the framework that will allow you to develop a product much faster and at a lower cost. Now that we believe you are more confident in using this technology, we are confident that Django has the potential to maintain your trust. If there is anything else you would like us to include in this article, please leave a comment. Also, if you have any Django-related questions, please leave a comment and our community or we will assist you in finding an answer.