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<!DOCTYPE html>

<title>Full Stack Python</title>

<!--[if lt IE 9]>

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<body>

<a href="/">Full Stack Python</a>

</div>

</div><div class="row">

<h1>Introduction</h1>

You're knee deep in learning the <a href="http://www.python.org/">Python</a>

programming language. The syntax is starting to make sense. The first

few "ahh-ha!" moments are hitting you as you're learning conditional

statements, for loops and classes while playing around with the open source

libraries that make Python such an amazing language.

Now you want to take your initial Python knowledge and make something real.

A real web application that's available on the web which you can show off or

sell as a service to other people. That's where Full Stack Python comes in.

You've come to the right place to learn everything you need to deploy and

run a production Python web application.

This guide branches out on topic because your learning needs depend on what

you're currently trying to do.

<h3>Let's get started. What do you need to do right now?</h3>

<h1>Why Use Python?</h1>

Python's expansive library of open source data analysis tools,

<a href="/web-frameworks.html">web frameworks</a>,

and testing instruments make its ecosystem one of the largest out of any

programming community.

Python is an accessible language for new programmers because of the extensive

availability of

<a href="/best-python-resources.html">free and low cost introductory resources</a>. The

language is also widely taught in universities and used for working with

beginner-friendly devices such as the

<a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/">Raspberry Pi</a>.

<h2>Python's programming language popularity</h2>

Several programming language popularity rankings exist. While it's

possible to criticize that these guides are not exact, every ranking shows

Python as a top programming language within the top ten, if not the top five

of all languages.

Most recently, the

<a href="http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2015/01/14/language-rankings-1-15/">RedMonk January 2015 ranking</a> had Python at #4.

The

<a href="http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html">TIOBE Index</a>,

a long-running language ranking, has Python steady at #8.

The <a href="http://pypl.github.io/PYPL.html">PopularitY of Programming Language</a>

(PYPL), based on leading indicators from Google Trends search keyword

analysis, shows Python at #3.

<a href="http://githut.info/">GitHut</a>, a visualization of GitHub language popularity,

pegs Python at #3 overall as well.

These rankings provide a rough measure for language popularity. They are not

intended as a precise measurement tool to determine exactly how many

developers are using a language. However, the aggregate view shows that Python

remains a stable programming language with a growing ecosystem.

<h2>Why does the choice of programming language matter?</h2>

Programming languages have unique ecosystems, cultures and philosophies

built around them. You will find friction with a community and difficulty

in learning if your approach to programming varies from the philosophy of

the programming language you've selected.

Python's culture values

<a href="https://github.com/trending?l=python&since=monthly">open source software</a>,

community involvement with

<a href="http://www.pycon.org/">local, national and international events</a> and

teaching to new programmers. If those values are also important to you and/or

your organization then Python may be a good fit.

The philosophy for Python is so strongly held that it's even embedded in

the language as shown when the interpreter executes "import this" and

displays <a href="https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/">The Zen of Python</a>.

<div class="codehilite"><pre>>>> import this

The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

Beautiful is better than ugly.

Explicit is better than implicit.

Simple is better than complex.

Complex is better than complicated.

Flat is better than nested.

Sparse is better than dense.

Readability counts.

Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.

Although practicality beats purity.

Errors should never pass silently.

Unless explicitly silenced.

In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.

There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.

Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.

Now is better than never.

Although never is often better than *right* now.

If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.

If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.

Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

</pre></div>

<h3>More perspectives on why to use Python</h3>

<ul>

<li>

The Python documentation has a HOWTO section specifically for

<a href="https://docs.python.org/2/howto/advocacy.html">Python advocacy</a>.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://nothingbutsnark.svbtle.com/how-to-argue-for-pythons-use">How to argue for Python’s use</a>

explains that choosing a programming language can be complicated but that

Python is a very good option for many use cases.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://lorenabarba.com/blog/why-i-push-for-python/">Why I Push for Python</a>

explains one professor's rationale for promoting Python to teach programming

to undergraduates.

</li>

</ul>

<h3>Resources for Python enterprise advocacy</h3>

<ul>

<li>

CIO Magazine discusses why

<a href="http://www.cio.com/article/2431212/developer/dynamic-languages--not-just-for-scripting-any-more.html">dynamic languages are increasingly being adopted in enterprise environments</a>.

</li>

<li>

PayPal covers

<a href="https://www.paypal-engineering.com/2014/12/10/10-myths-of-enterprise-python/">10 myths about enterprise Python</a>

via their engineering blog.

</li>

<li>

My DjangoCon 2014 talk focused on overcoming false biases against

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMtiCX38w20">Python and Django in enterprise environments</a>.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>What else would you like to know about Python?</h2>

<h1>Development Environments</h1>

A development environment is a combination of a text editor and the Python

interpreter. The text editor allows you to write the code. The interpreter

provides a way to execute the code you've written. A text editor can be

as simple as Notepad on Windows or more complicated as a complete integrated

development environment (IDE) such as

<a href="https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/">PyCharm</a> which runs on any major

operating system.

<h2>Why is a development environment necessary?</h2>

Python code needs to be written, executed and tested to build

applications. The text editor provides a way to write the code. The

interpreter allows it to be executed. Testing to see if the code does what

you want can either be done manually or by unit and functional tests.

<h2>A development environment example</h2>

Here's what I (the author of Full Stack Python,

<a href="/about-author.html">Matt Makai</a>) use to develop most of my Python

applications. I have a Macbook Pro with Mac OS X as its base operating

system. <a href="/operating-systems.html">Ubuntu 14.04 LTS</a> is virtualized on top

with <a href="https://www.parallels.com/">Parallels</a>. My code is written in

<a href="http://www.vim.org/">vim</a> and executed with the

<a href="https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7.8/">Python 2.7.x</a> interpreter

via the command line. I use virtualenv to create separate Python interpreters

with their own isolated

<a href="/application-dependencies.html">application dependencies</a> and

<a href="http://virtualenvwrapper.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">virtualenvwrapper</a>

to quickly switch between the interpreters created by virtualenv.

That's a common set up but you can certainly write great code with a much

less expensive set up or a cloud-based development environment.

<h2>Open source development environments</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.vim.org/">vim</a> is my editor of choice and installed by default

on most *nix systems.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">emacs</a> is another editor often used

on *nix.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://pydev.org/">PyDev</a> is a Python IDE plug in for

<a href="https://www.eclipse.org/">Eclipse</a>.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.sublimetext.com/">Sublime Text</a> versions 2 and 3 (currently

in beta) are popular text editors that can be extended with code completion,

linting, syntax highlighting and other features using plugins.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://atom.io/">Atom</a> is an open source editor built by the

<a href="https://github.com">GitHub</a> team.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Python-specific IDEs</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/">PyCharm</a> is a Python-specific IDE

built on <a href="https://www.jetbrains.com/">JetBrains</a>' platform. There are

free editions for students and open source projects.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://wingware.com/">Wing IDE</a> is a paid development environment with

integrated debugging and code completion.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://komodoide.com/">Komodo</a>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Hosted development environment services</h2>

In the past couple of years several cloud-based development environments

have popped up. These can work great for when you're learning or stuck on

a machine with only a browser but no way to install your own software. Most

of these have free tiers for getting started and paid tiers as you scale

up your application.

<ul>

<li>

<a href="https://www.nitrous.io/">Nitrous.io</a>

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://c9.io/">Cloud9</a>

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://www.terminal.com/">Terminal</a>

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://koding.com/">Koding</a>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Development environment resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>

If you're considering the cloud-based development environment route, check

out this

<a href="http://readwrite.com/2014/08/14/cloud9-koding-nitrousio-integrated-development-environment-ide-coding">great article comparing Cloud9, Koding and Nitrous.io</a>

by Lauren Orsini. She also explains more about what a cloud IDE is and is

not.

</li>

<li>

Real Python has an awesome, detailed post on

<a href="https://realpython.com/blog/python/setting-up-sublime-text-3-for-full-stack-python-development/">setting up your Sublime Text 3 environment</a>

as a full-fledged IDE.

</li>

<li>

The <a href="http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/dev/env/">Hitchhiker's Guide to Python</a>

has a page dedicated to development environments.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://pedrokroger.net/choosing-best-python-ide/">Choosing the best Python IDE</a>

is a review of six IDEs. PyCharm, Wing IDE and PyDev stand out above the

other three in this review.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://nafiulis.me/pycharm-the-good-parts-i.html">PyCharm: The Good Parts</a>

shows you how to be more efficient and productive with that IDE if it's

your choice for writing Python code.

</li>

</ul>

Vim, shorthand for Vi IMproved, is a text editor with numerous configuration

options and wide-ranging extensions that can be used to write Python code.

<h2>Why is Vim a good Python development environment?</h2>

Vim's philosophy is that developers are fastest when they never take their

hands off the keys. Even using the mouse is a detriment to the rate at which

your thoughts can flow into code.

Vim has a language behind its commands. When a beginner is learning the

editor she may feel like it is impossible to understand all the key commands.

However, the commands stack together in a logical way so that over time

the editor becomes predictable.

<h2>General Vim resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://vim-adventures.com/">Vim Adventures</a> is a cute, fun browser-based

game that helps you learn Vim commands by playing through the adventure.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://yannesposito.com/Scratch/en/blog/Learn-Vim-Progressively/">Learn Vim Progressively</a>

is a wonderful tutorial that follows the path I took when learning Vim:

learn just enough to survive with it as your day-to-day editor then begin

adding more advanced commands on top.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://danielmiessler.com/study/vim/">A vim Tutorial and Primer</a> is an

incredibly deep study in how to go from beginner to knowledgeable in Vim.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://haridas.in/vim-as-your-ide.html">Vim as Your IDE</a> discusses how to

set up Vim for greater productivity once you learn the initial Vim language

for using the editor.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9172802/setting-up-vim-for-python">Setting up Vim for Python</a>

has a well written answer on Stack Overflow for getting started with Vim.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://benmccormick.org/2014/07/02/learning-vim-in-2014-vim-as-language/">Vim as a Language</a>

explains the language syntax and how you can build up over time to master

the editor.

</li>

<li>

In <a href="http://mislav.uniqpath.com/2011/12/vim-revisited/">Vim: revisited</a> the

author explains his on-again off-again relationship with using Vim. He then

shows how he configures and uses the editor so it sticks as his primary

code editting tool.

</li>

</ul>

<h3>What do you want to learn about Python development?</h3>

<h1>Best Python Resources</h1>

The Python community is amazing at sharing detailed resources and helping

beginners learn to program with the language. There are so many resources

out there though that it can be difficult to know how to find them.

This page aggregates the best Python resources with a brief description of

how it fits one's learning purpose.

Looking for information on Python development environments? There's a

<a href="/development-environments.html">whole other page for editors and IDEs</a>.

<h2>New to programming</h2>

If you're learning your first programming language these books were written

with you in mind. Developers learning Python as a second or later language

should skip down to the next section for "experienced developers".

<ul>

<li>

If you've never programmed before check out the

<a href="http://learntocodewith.me/getting-started/">Getting Started</a> page on

<a href="http://learntocodewith.me/">Learn To Code with Me</a>

by <a href="https://twitter.com/lebdev">Laurence Bradford</a>. She's done an

incredible job of breaking down the steps beginners should take when

they're uncertain about where to begin.

</li>

<li>

To get an introduction to both Python and Django at the same time, purchase

<a href="http://www.realpython.com/">Real Python</a> by Fletcher, Michael, and Jeremy.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/">Learn Python the Hard Way</a> is a

free book by Zed Shaw.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.diveinto.org/python3/">Dive into Python 3</a> is an open source

book provided under the Creative Commons license and available in HTML or

PDF form.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://pymbook.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">Python for You and Me</a> (pym) is

an online book for people completely unfamiliar with the Python programming

language.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/python/">A Byte of Python</a> is a beginner's

tutorial for the Python language.

</li>

<li>

Code Academy has a <a href="http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/python">Python track</a>

for people completely new to programming.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://opentechschool.github.io/python-beginners/en/index.html">Introduction to Programming with Python</a>

goes over the basic syntax and control structures in Python. The free book

has numerous code examples to go along with each topic.

</li>

<li>

The O'Reilly book

<a href="http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/index.html">Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist</a>

is available in HTML form for free on the web.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://anandology.com/python-practice-book/index.html">Python Practice Book</a>

is a book of Python exercises to help you learn the basic language syntax.

</li>

<li>

Looking for ideas about what projects to use to learn to code? Check out

<a href="https://medium.com/learning-journalism-tech/five-mini-programming-projects-for-the-python-beginner-21492f6ce0f3">this list of 5 programming project for Python beginners</a>.

</li>

<li>

I wrote a quick blog post on

<a href="http://www.mattmakai.com/learning-python-for-non-developers.html">learning Python</a>

that non-technical folks trying to learn to program may find useful.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Experienced developers new to Python</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/python/">Learn Python in y minutes</a>

provides a whirlwind tour of the Python language. The guide is especially

useful if you're coming in with previous software development experience

and want to quickly grasp how the language is structured.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://pymbook.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">Python for you and me</a> is an

approachable book with sections for Python syntax and the major language

constructs. The book also contains a short guide at the end to get

programmers to write their first Flask web application.

</li>

<li>

Kenneth Reitz's

<a href="http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/">The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Python</a>

contains a wealth of information both on the Python programming language and the community.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://districtdatalabs.silvrback.com/how-to-develop-quality-python-code">How to Develop Quality Python Code</a>

is a good read to begin learning about development environments,

application dependencies and project structure.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://developers.google.com/edu/python/">Google's Python Class</a> contains

lecture videos and exercises for learning Python.

</li>

<li>

Check out the <a href="http://www.realpython.com/blog/">Real Python! Blog</a> for a great

set of relevant posts about Python web development topics.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Beyond the basics</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://mirnazim.org/writings/python-ecosystem-introduction/">The Python Ecosystem: An Introduction</a>

provides context for virtual machines, Python packaging, pip, virutalenv

and many other topics after learning the basic Python syntax.

</li>

<li>

The <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/python">Python Subreddit</a> rolls up great

Python links and has an active community ready to answer questions from

beginners and advanced Python developers alike.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://jessenoller.com/good-to-great-python-reads/">Good to Great Python Reads</a>

is a collection of intermediate and advanced Python articles around the web

focused on nuances and details of the Python language itself.

</li>

<li>

The blog <a href="http://freepythontips.wordpress.com/">Free Python Tips</a> provides

posts on Python topics as well as news for the Python ecosystem.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://pythonbooks.revolunet.com/">Python Books</a> is a collection of freely

available books on Python, Django, and data analysis.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Videos, screencasts and presentations</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="https://twitter.com/heddle317">Kate Heddleston</a> gave a talk at PyCon 2014

called

"<a href="http://pyvideo.org/video/2591/so-you-want-to-be-a-full-stack-developer-how-to">Full-stack Python Web Applications</a>"

with clear visuals for how numerous layers of the Python web

stack fit together. There are also <a href="https://speakerdeck.com/pycon2014/so-you-want-to-be-a-full-stack-developer-how-to-build-a-full-stack-python-web-application-by-kate-heddleston">slides available from the talk</a>

with all the diagrams.

</li>

<li>

My <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6NaOKD40rY">EuroPython 2014 "Full Stack Python"</a>

talk goes over each topic from this guide and provides context for how the

pieces fit together.

The <a href="http://www.mattmakai.com/presentations/2014-full-stack-python-berlin.html">talk slides</a> are also available.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://www.neckbeardrepublic.com/">Neckbeard Republic</a> provides free

screencasts for learning intermediate topics. I typically prefer to learn

by reading. However, these videos are helpful in seeing the code on the

screen instead of just looking at static code snippets.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.pyvideo.org/">PyVideo</a> organizes and indexes thousands of Python

videos from both major conferences and meetups.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Curated Python packages lists</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/vinta/awesome-python">awesome-python</a> is an incredible

list of Python frameworks, libraries and software. I wish I had this

page when I was just getting started.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://easy-python.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">easy-python</a> is like

awesome-python although instead of just a Git repository this site is

in the Read the Docs format.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Newsletters</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.pythonweekly.com/">Python Weekly</a> is a free weekly roundup

of the latest Python articles, videos, projects, and upcoming events.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://pycoders.com/">PyCoder's Weekly</a> is another great free weekly

email newsletter similar to Python Weekly. The best resources are generally

covered in both newsletters but they often cover different articles

and projects from around the web.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://importpython.com/newsletter/">Import Python</a> is a newer newsletter

thank Python Weekly and PyCoder's Weekly. So far I've found this newsletter

covers different sources from other newsletters. It's well worth subscribing

to all three so you don't miss anything.

</li>

</ul>

<h3>Those resources should help get you started. What's next?</h3>

<h1>Web frameworks</h1>

A web framework is a code library that makes a developer's life easier when

building reliable, scalable and maintainable web applications.

<h2>Why are web frameworks necessary?</h2>

Web frameworks encapsulate what developers have learned over the past twenty

years while programming sites and applications for the web. Frameworks make

it easier to reuse code for common HTTP operations and to structure projects

so developers with knowledge of the framework can more quickly build and

maintain the application.

<h2>Common web framework functionality</h2>

Frameworks provide functionality in their code or through extensions to

perform common operations required to run web applications. These common

operations include:

<ol>

<li>URL routing</li>

<li>HTML, XML, JSON, and other output format templating</li>

<li>Database manipulation</li>

<li>Security against Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and other attacks</li>

</ol>

Not all web frameworks include code for all of the above

functionality. Frameworks fall somewhere between simply executing a

single use case and attempting to be everything to every developer with

increased complexity. Some frameworks take the "batteries-included" approach

where everything possible comes bundled with the framework while others

have a minimal code library that plays well with extensions.

For example, the Django web application framework includes an

Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) layer that abstracts relational database

read, write, query, and delete operations. However, Django's ORM

cannot work without significant modification on non-relational databases such as

<a href="http://www.mongodb.org/">MongoDB</a>.

Some other web frameworks such as Flask and Pyramid are easier to

use with non-relational databases by incorporating external Python libraries.

There is a spectrum between minimal functionality with easy extensibility and

including everything in the framework with tight integration.

<h2>General web framework resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>

"<a href="http://www.jeffknupp.com/blog/2014/03/03/what-is-a-web-framework/">What is a web framework?</a>"

by <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffknupp">Jeff Knupp</a>

is an in-depth explanation of what web frameworks are and their relation

to web servers.

</li>

<li>

Check out the answer to the

"<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4507506/what-is-a-web-framework-how-does-it-compare-with-lamp">What is a web framework and how does it compare to LAMP?</a>"

question on Stack Overflow.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://youtu.be/W6KCPXl6Zuc">Frameworks</a> is a really well done short video

that explains how to choose between web frameworks. The author has some

particular opinions about what should be in a framework. For the most part

I agree although I've found sessions and database ORMs to be a helpful

part of a framework when done well.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://www.airpair.com/python/posts/django-flask-pyramid">Django vs Flask vs Pyramid: Choosing a Python Web Framework</a>

contains background information and code comparisons for similar

web applications built in these three big Python frameworks.

</li>

<li>

This <a href="http://www.konstruktor.ee/blog/python-web-framework-roundup/">Python web framework roundup</a>

covers Django, Flask and Bottle as well as several other lesser known Python

frameworks.

</li>

<li>

This fascinating blog post takes a look at the

<a href="http://grokcode.com/864/snakefooding-python-code-for-complexity-visualization/">code complexity of several Python web frameworks</a>

by providing visualizations based on their code bases.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/2les4x/what_frameworks_do_you_use_and_why_are_they/">What web frameworks do you use and why are they awesome?</a>

is a language agnostic Reddit discussion on web frameworks. It's interesting

to see what programmers in other languages like and dislike about their

suite of web frameworks compared to the main Python frameworks.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Web frameworks learning checklist</h2>

Choose a major Python web framework (<a href="/django.html">Django</a> or

<a href="/flask.html">Flask</a> are recommended) and stick with it. When you're just

starting it's best to learn one framework first instead of bouncing around

trying to understand every framework.

Work through a detailed tutorial found within the resources links on the

framework's page.

Study open source examples built with your framework of choice so you can

take parts of those projects and reuse the code in your application.

Build the first simple iteration of your web application then go to

the <a href="/deployment.html">deployment</a> section to make it accessible on the

web.

<h3>Which web framework do you want to learn about?</h3>

<h1>Django</h1>

<a href="http://www.djangoproject.com/">Django</a> is a widely used Python web

application framework with a "batteries-included" philosophy. The principle

behind batteries-included is that the common functionality for building

web applications should come with the framework instead of as separate

libraries.

For example,

<a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/auth/">authentication</a>,

<a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/http/urls/">URL routing</a>, a

<a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/templates/">templating system</a>,

an <a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/db/">object-relational mapper</a>,

and <a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/migrations/">database schema migrations</a>

(as of version 1.7) are all included with the <a href="https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Django/">Django framework</a>.

Compare that included functionality to the Flask framework which requires a

separate library such as

<a href="https://flask-login.readthedocs.org/en/latest/">Flask-Login</a>

to perform user authentication.

The batteries-included and extensibility philosophies are simply two different

ways to tackle framework building. Neither philosophy is inherently better

than the other.

<h2>Why is Django a good web framework choice?</h2>

The Django project's stability, performance and community have grown

tremendously over the past decade since the framework's creation. Detailed

tutorials and best practices are readily available on the web and in books.

The framework continues to add significant new functionality such as

<a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/migrations/">database migrations</a>

with each release.

I highly recommend the Django framework as a starting place for new Python web

developers because the official documentation and tutorials are some of the

best anywhere in software development. Many cities also have Django-specific

groups such as <a href="http://www.meetup.com/django-district/">Django District</a>,

<a href="http://www.meetup.com/djangoboston/">Django Boston</a> and

<a href="http://www.meetup.com/The-San-Francisco-Django-Meetup-Group/">San Francisco Django</a>

so new developers can get help when they are stuck.

There's some debate on whether

<a href="http://www.jeffknupp.com/blog/2012/12/11/learning-python-via-django-considered-harmful/">learning Python by using Django is a bad idea</a>.

However, that criticism is invalid if you take the time to learn the Python

syntax and language semantics first before diving into web development.

<h2>Django tutorials</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.tangowithdjango.com/book/">Tango with Django</a> is an extensive

set of free introductions to using the most popular Python web framework. Several

current developers said this book really helped them get over the initial

framework learning curve.

</li>

<li>

The <a href="http://tutorial.djangogirls.org/en/index.html">Django Girls Tutorial</a>

is a great tutorial that doesn't assume any prior knowledge of Python or

Django while helping you build your first web application.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://twoscoopspress.com/products/two-scoops-of-django-1-6">2 Scoops of Django</a>

by Daniel Greenfeld and Audrey Roy is well worth the price of admission if

you're serious about learning how to correctly develop Django websites.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://effectivedjango.com/">Effective Django</a> is another free introduction

to the web framework.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.obeythetestinggoat.com/">Test-Driven Development with Python</a>

focuses on web development using Django and JavaScript. This book uses

the development of a website using the Django web framework as a real

world example of how to perform test-driven development (TDD). There is

also coverage of NoSQL, websockets and asynchronous responses. The book can

be read online for free or purchased in hard copy via O'Reilly.

</li>

<li>

The <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/django">Django subreddit</a> often has links to

the latest resources for learning Django and is also a good spot to ask

questions about it.

</li>

<li>

Lincoln Loop wrote a

<a href="http://lincolnloop.com/django-best-practices/">Django Best Practices guide</a>

for the community.

</li>

<li>

Steve Losh wrote an incredibly detailed <a href="http://stevelosh.com/blog/2011/06/django-advice/">Django Advice guide</a>.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://programming.oreilly.com/2014/04/simplifying-django.html">Lightweight Django</a>

has several nice examples for breaking Django into smaller simplier

components.

</li>

<li>

The <a href="https://github.com/rogueleaderr/definitive_guide_to_django_deployment">Definitive Guide to Django Deployment</a>

explains the architecture of the resulting set up and includes Chef scripts

to automate the deployment.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://agiliq.com/blog/2014/08/deploying-a-django-app-on-amazon-ec2-instance/">Deploying a Django app on Amazon EC2 instance</a>

is a detailed walkthrough for deploying an example Django app to Amazon

Web Services.

</li>

<li>

This <a href="http://aliteralmind.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/jquery_django_tutorial/">step-by-step guide for Django</a>

shows how to transmit data via AJAX with JQuery.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.nickpolet.com/blog/deploying-django-on-aws/1/">Deploying Django on AWS</a>

is another walkthrough for deploying Django to AWS.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/rosarior/awesome-django">django-awesome</a> is a curated

list of Django libraries and resources.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://realpython.com/learn/start-django/">Starting a Django Project</a> answers the question, “How do I set up a Django (1.5, 1.6, or /1.7) project from scratch?”

</li>

<li>

The <a href="http://www.revsys.com/blog/2014/nov/21/recommended-django-project-layout/">recommended Django project layout</a>

is helpful for developers new to Django to understand how to structure

the directories and files within apps for projects.

</li>

<li>

The <a href="http://irisbeta.com/article/245366784/the-django-request-response-cycle/">Django Request-Response Cycle</a>

explains what happens when you visit a webpage generated by Django.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Django videos</h2>

<ul>

<li>

Kate Heddleston and I gave a talk at DjangoCon 2014 called

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrFEKghISEI">Choose Your Own Django Deployment Adventure</a>

which walked through many of the scenarios you'd face when deploying your

first Django website.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://godjango.com/">GoDjango</a> screencasts and tutorials are free short

videos for learning how to build Django applications.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://gettingstartedwithdjango.com/">Getting Started with Django</a> is a

series of video tutorials for the framework.

</li>

<li>

The videos and slides from

<a href="http://www.djangounderthehood.com/talks/">Django: Under the Hood 2014</a>

are from Django core commiters and provide insight into the ORM,

internationalization, templates and other topics.

</li>

<li>

DjangoCon US videos from

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE7tQUdRKcybbNiuhLcc3h6WzmZGVBMr3">2014</a>,

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOpenBastion/videos">2013</a>,

<a href="http://pyvideo.org/category/23/djangocon-2012">2012</a>,

<a href="http://pyvideo.org/category/3/djangocon-2011">2011</a>, as well as

<a href="http://pyvideo.org/category">earlier US and DjangoCon EU conferences</a> are

all available free of charge.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Django 1.7-specific resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>

Paul Hallett wrote a

<a href="https://www.twilio.com/blog/2014/10/upgrading-your-django-reusable-app-to-support-django-1-7.html">detailed Django 1.7 app upgrade guide</a>

on the Twilio blog from his experience working with the django-twilio

package.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://pyvideo.org/video/2630/designing-djangos-migrations">Designing Django's Migrations</a>

covers Django 1.7's new migrations from the main programmer

of South and now Django's built-in migrations, Andrew Godwin.

</li>

<li>

Real Python's <a href="https://realpython.com/blog/python/django-migrations-a-primer/">migrations primer</a>

explores the difference between South's migrations and the built-in

Django 1.7 migrations as well as how you use them.

</li>

<li>

Andrew Pinkham's "Upgrading to Django 1.7" series is great learning

material for understanding what's changed in this major release and

how to adapt your Django project.

<a href="http://andrewsforge.com/article/upgrading-django-to-17/part-1-introduction-and-django-releases/">Part 1</a>,

<a href="http://andrewsforge.com/article/upgrading-django-to-17/part-2-migrations-in-django-16-and-17/">part 2</a> and

and

are now all available to read.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://lincolnloop.com/blog/integrating-front-end-tools-your-django-project/">Integerating Front End Tools with Django</a>

is a good post to read for figuring out how to use <a href="http://gulpjs.com/">Gulp</a>

for handling front end tools in development and production Django sites.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Django with Angular (Djangular) resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://blog.kevinastone.com/getting-started-with-django-rest-framework-and-angularjs.html">Getting Started with Django Rest Framework and AngularJS</a>

is a very detailed introduction to Djangular with example code.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://thinkster.io/brewer/angular-django-tutorial/">Building Web Applications with Django and AngularJS</a>

is a very detailed guide for using Django as an API layer and AngularJS

as the MVC front end in the browser.

</li>

<li>

This <a href="http://blog.mourafiq.com/post/55034504632/end-to-end-web-app-with-django-rest-framework">end to end web app with Django-Rest-Framework & AngularJS part 1</a>

tutorial along with

<a href="http://blog.mourafiq.com/post/55099429431/end-to-end-web-app-with-django-rest-framework">part 2</a>,

and

creates an example blog application with Djangular. There is also a

corresponding <a href="https://github.com/mouradmourafiq/django-angular-blog">GitHub repo</a>

for the project code.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Django ORM resources</h2>

The <a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/db/">Django ORM</a> works well

for simple and medium-complexity database operations. However, there are often

complaints that the ORM makes complex queries much more complicated than

writing straight SQL or using <a href="http://www.sqlalchemy.org/">SQLAlchemy</a>.

It's technically possible to drop down to SQL but it ties the queries to a

specific database implementation. The ORM is coupled closely with Django so

replacing the default ORM with SQLAlchemy is currently a hack workaround. Note

though that some of the Django core committers believe it is only a matter of

time before the default ORM is replaced with SQLAlchemy. It will be a large

effort to get that working though so it's likely to come in Django 1.9 or

later.

Since the majority of Django projects are tied to the default ORM, it's best to

read up on advanced use cases and tools for doing your best work within the

existing framework.

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.dabapps.com/blog/django-models-and-encapsulation/">Django models, encapsulation and data integrity</a>

is a detailed article by Tom Christie on encapsulating Django models for

data integrity.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://django-debug-toolbar.readthedocs.org/en/1.2/">Django Debug Toolbar</a>

is a powerful Django ORM database query inspection tool. Highly recommended

during development to ensure you're writing reasonable query code.

<a href="http://mtford.co.uk/blog/2/">Django Silk</a> is another inspection tool and

has capabilities to do more than just SQL inspection.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://reinout.vanrees.org/weblog/2014/05/06/making-faster.html">Making a specific Django app faster</a>

is a Django performance blog post with some tips on measuring performance

and optimizing based on the measured results.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://speakerdeck.com/alex/why-i-hate-the-django-orm">Why I Hate the Django ORM</a>

is Alex Gaynor's overview of the bad designs decisions, some of which he

made, while building the Django ORM.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://speakerdeck.com/craigkerstiens/going-beyond-django-orm-with-postgres">Going Beyond Django ORM with Postgres</a>

is specific to using PostgreSQL with Django.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.calazan.com/migrating-django-app-from-mysql-to-postgresql/">Migrating a Django app from MySQL to PostgreSQL</a>

is a quick look at how to move from MySQL to PostgreSQL. However, my guess

is that any Django app that's been running for awhile on one relational

database will require a lot more work to port over to another backend

even with the power of the ORM.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://blog.kevinastone.com/django-model-descriptors.html">Django Model Descriptors</a>

discusses and shows how to incorporate business logic into Django models

to reduce complexity from the views and make the code easier to reuse across

separate views.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Static and media files</h2>

Deploying and handling static and media files can be confusing for new

Django developers. These resources along with the

<a href="/static-content.html">static content</a> page are useful for figuring out how

to handle these files properly.

<ul>

<li>

<a href="http://www.caktusgroup.com/blog/2014/11/10/Using-Amazon-S3-to-store-your-Django-sites-static-and-media-files/">Using Amazon S3 to Store your Django Site's Static and Media Files</a>

is a well written guide to a question commonly asked about static and

media file serving.

</li>

<li>

<a href="http://www.revsys.com/blog/2014/dec/03/loading-django-files-from-code/">Loading Django FileField and ImageFields from the file system</a>

shows how to load a model field with a file from the file system.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Open source Django example projects</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/makaimc/txt2react">Txt 2 React</a> is a full Django web

app that allows audiences to text in during a presentation with feedback

or questions.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/ustream/openduty">Openduty</a> is a website status checking

and alert system similar to PagerDuty.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/myusuf3/courtside">Courtside</a> is a pick up sports web

application written and maintained by the author of PyCoder's Weekly.

</li>

<li>

These two Django Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system web application

repositorities <a href="https://github.com/phalt/twilio-django-part-1">part 1</a> and

<a href="https://github.com/phalt/twilio-django-part-2">part 2</a> show you how to

build a really cool Django application. There's also an accompanying

with detailed explanations of each step.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/taigaio/taiga-back">Taiga</a> is a project management

tool built with Django as the backend and AngularJS as the front end.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Django project templates</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/caktus/django-project-template">Caktus Group's Django project template</a>

is Django 1.6+ ready.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/pydanny/cookiecutter-django">Cookiecutter Django</a> is a

project template from Daniel Greenfeld, for use with Audrey Roy's

<a href="https://github.com/audreyr/cookiecutter">Cookiecutter</a>. Heroku

deployment-ready.

</li>

<li>

<a href="https://github.com/twoscoops/django-twoscoops-project">Two Scoops Django project template</a>

is also from the PyDanny and Audrey Roy. This one provides a quick scaffold

described in the Two Scoops of Django book.

</li>

</ul>

<h2>Django learning checklist</h2>

<a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/install/">Install Django</a> on

your local development machine.

Work through the initial

<a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/intro/tutorial01/">"polls" tutorial</a>.

Build a few more simple applications using the tutorial resources found

in the "Django resources" section.

Start coding your own Django project with help from the

<a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/">official documentation</a> and

resource links below. You'll make plenty of mistakes which is critical

on your path to learning the right way to build applications.

Read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Two-Scoops-Django-Best-Practices/dp/098146730X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391562062&sr=8-2&tag=mlinar-20">2 Scoops of Django</a>

to understand Django best practices and learn better ways of building

Django web applications.

Move on to the <a href="/deployment.html">deployment section</a> to get your Django

project on the web.

<h3>What do you need to learn next for your Django app?</h3>

<h1>Flask</h1>

<a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/">Flask</a> is a Python web framework built with a

<a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/design/">small core and easy-to-extend philosophy</a>.

<h2>Why is Flask a good web framework choice?</h2>

Flask is considered more

<a href="http://blog.startifact.com/posts/older/what-is-pythonic.html">Pythonic</a>

than Django because Flask web application code is in most cases more explicit.

Flask is easy to get started with as a beginner because there is little

boilerplate code for getting a simple app up and running.

For example, here's a valid "hello world" web application with Flask (the

equivalent in Django would be significantly more code):

<div class="codehilite"><pre>from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')

def hello_world():

return 'Hello World!'

if __name__ == '__main__':

app.run()

</pre></div>

Flask was also written several years after Django and therefore

learned from the Python community's reactions as the framework evolved.

Jökull Sólberg wrote a great piece articulating to this effect in his

<a href="http://jokull.calepin.co/my-flask-to-django-experience.html">experience switching between Flask and Django</a>.

<h2>Flask resources</h2>

The 18-part Flask mega tutorial is an absolutely amazing starting

resource for using the Flask framework. Yes, there are a lot of posts in

the series. However, each post is focused on a single topic to contain

the complexity while the reader is learning the framework. The whole

series is well worth an in-depth read-through. The

<a href="https://twitter.com/miguelgrinberg">author</a> also wrote the new

<a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920031116.do">O'Reilly Flask Web Development</a>

book which is an excellent learning resource.

<ul>

<li><a href="http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-i-hello-world">Part 1: Hello World</a></li>

<li><a href="http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-ii-templates">Part 2: Templates</a></li>

<li><a href="http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-iii-web-forms">Part 3: Web Forms</a></li>

<li><a href="http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-iv-database">Part 4: Database</a></li>

<li><a href="http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-v-user-logins">Part 5: User Logins</a></li>

<li><a href="http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-vi-profile-page-and-avatars">Part 6: Profile Page and Avatars</a></li>

<li><a href="http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-vii-unit-testing">Part 7: Unit Testing</a></li>

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