Django introduction

Django is an open-source web application framework written in Python.

With Django, Python developers can easily complete most of what a production website requires with just a little code, and further develop full-featured web services.

Django provides the tools needed for full-stack development, including database ORM, template engine, routing system, user authentication, etc., greatly reducing repetitive code.

Django's Philosophy:

  • DRY（Don't Repeat Yourself）:Avoids repetitive code and promotes reuse (such as template inheritance and model inheritance).
  • Convention over Configuration:Provides sensible configurations by default (such as an auto-generated Admin interface), reducing decision costs.
  • Rapid development:Can be efficiently carried from prototype to production environment.

Django 遵循 MVC（Model-View-Controller）framestructure, butIn Django Medium更常ByCalled MTV（Model-Template-View）。

Built-in Features

FeaturesDescription
Admin backendAutomatically generates an admin interface, eliminating the need to manually write CRUD logic.
ORMUse Python classes to operate the database without writing SQL.
Form ProcessingBuilt-in form validation to prevent CSRF attacks.
User AuthenticationProvides login, registration, and permission management (django.contrib.auth）。
Routing SystemFlexible URL mapping with support for regular expressions.
Cache MechanismSupport backends such as Memcached, Redis.

Core Features

  • Rapid development:Django provides a wealth of built-in features, such as authentication, admin backend, and form handling, allowing developers to focus on business logic rather than low-level implementation.
  • Automated admin backend:With just a simple model definition, a powerful admin interface can be generated, supporting create, read, update, and delete operations.
  • ORM database mapping:Django's built-in ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) lets developers interact with the database using Python classes without writing SQL.
  • Powerful URL routing:Use regular expressions to flexibly define URLs and easily implement page routing.
  • Template engine:Built-in powerful template system supports logic judgment and loop processing, making it convenient to render HTML pages.
  • Internationalization Support:Django supports multilingual internationalization, making it well-suited for global applications.
  • High security:Built-in security measures, such as preventing SQL injection, XSS attacks, CSRF attacks, and more.
  • Rich community and extensions:A large number of open-source third-party libraries, such as Django REST framework and Django CMS, allow rapid feature expansion.

MVC and MTV Models

MVC (Model-View-Controller)

  • Model (model): Handles interaction with the database, defines data structure and business logic.

  • View: Responsible for data presentation, generating the HTML page that users see.

  • Controller: Receives user requests, calls the Model to process data, and passes the results to the View to render the page.

Process:

  1. The user sends a request to the Controller.

  2. The Controller handles logic and calls the Model to retrieve data.

  3. The Controller passes the data to the View.

  4. The View renders and returns the HTML page to the user.

MVT (Model-Template-View) — Django's implementation approach

Django adoptsMVTDesign pattern, similar to MVC, but with some differences:

  • Model (model): Interacts with the database to handle the creation, reading, updating, and deletion of data.

  • Template (template): Responsible for page rendering, generating the final HTML content.

  • View: Django's View is more like the controller role; it receives the request and decides which template and data to use.

Process:

  1. User visits a URL, and the request is handled by Django'surls.pyMaps to the corresponding View.

  2. View handles business logic and calls the Model to retrieve data.

  3. The View passes the data to the Template.

  4. Template renders the HTML and finally returns it to the user.

Applicable scenarios for Django

Projects suitable for Django:

  • ✅ Content management systems (CMS) (e.g., news websites, blogs)
  • ✅ Social platforms (user systems, activity publishing)
  • ✅ E-commerce websites (order management, payment integration)
  • ✅ API backend (integrated with Django REST framework)

Unsuitable Scenarios:

  • ❌ Real-time systems with ultra-high performance requirements (e.g., high-frequency trading platforms; Go or Rust recommended)
  • ❌ Extremely lightweight microservices (can consider Flask or FastAPI)

Django vs other frameworks

FrameworkFeatures
FlaskLightweight and flexible, suitable for small projects or microservices.
FastAPIStrong asynchronous support, suitable for high-performance API development.
Ruby on RailsSimilar to Django, but using the Ruby language.
LaravelAn MVC framework in the PHP ecosystem, with functionality similar to Django.

Django advantages:

  • "Out of the box": complete functionality can be achieved without installing additional plugins.
  • Security: automatically protects against common attacks such as SQL injection, XSS, and CSRF.
  • Active community: rich third-party libraries (such as Django REST framework and Django CMS).
other extensions