Django grew from a very practical need: World Online, a newspaper Web\noperation, is responsible for building intensive Web applications on journalism\ndeadlines. In the fast-paced newsroom, World Online often has only a matter of\nhours to take a complicated Web application from concept to public launch.
\nAt the same time, the World Online Web developers have consistently been\nperfectionists when it comes to following best practices of Web development.
\nIn fall 2003, the World Online developers (Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison)\nditched PHP and began using Python to develop its Web sites. As they built\nintensive, richly interactive sites such as Lawrence.com, they began to extract\na generic Web development framework that let them build Web applications more\nand more quickly. They tweaked this framework constantly, adding improvements\nover two years.
\nIn summer 2005, World Online decided to open-source the resulting software,\nDjango. Django would not be possible without a whole host of open-source\nprojects – Apache, Python, and PostgreSQL to name a few – and we’re\nthrilled to be able to give something back to the open-source community.
\nDjango is named after Django Reinhardt, a gypsy jazz guitarist from the 1930s\nto early 1950s. To this day, he’s considered one of the best guitarists of all time.
\nListen to his music. You’ll like it.
\nDjango is pronounced JANG-oh. Rhymes with FANG-oh. The “D” is silent.
\nWe’ve also recorded an audio clip of the pronunciation.
\nYes, it’s quite stable. Companies like Disqus, Instagram, Pinterest, and\nMozilla have been using Django for many years. Sites built on Django have\nweathered traffic spikes of over 50 thousand hits per second.
\nYes. Compared to development time, hardware is cheap, and so Django is\ndesigned to take advantage of as much hardware as you can throw at it.
\nDjango uses a “shared-nothing” architecture, which means you can add hardware\nat any level – database servers, caching servers or Web/application servers.
\nThe framework cleanly separates components such as its database layer and\napplication layer. And it ships with a simple-yet-powerful\ncache framework.
\nDjango was originally developed at World Online, the Web department of a\nnewspaper in Lawrence, Kansas, USA. Django’s now run by an international\nteam of volunteers.
\nDjangoSites.org features a constantly growing list of Django-powered sites.
\nWell, the standard names are debatable.
\nIn our interpretation of MVC, the “view” describes the data that gets presented\nto the user. It’s not necessarily how the data looks, but which data is\npresented. The view describes which data you see, not how you see it. It’s\na subtle distinction.
\nSo, in our case, a “view” is the Python callback function for a particular URL,\nbecause that callback function describes which data is presented.
\nFurthermore, it’s sensible to separate content from presentation – which is\nwhere templates come in. In Django, a “view” describes which data is presented,\nbut a view normally delegates to a template, which describes how the data is\npresented.
\nWhere does the “controller” fit in, then? In Django’s case, it’s probably the\nframework itself: the machinery that sends a request to the appropriate view,\naccording to the Django URL configuration.
\nIf you’re hungry for acronyms, you might say that Django is a “MTV” framework\n– that is, “model”, “template”, and “view.” That breakdown makes much more\nsense.
\nAt the end of the day, of course, it comes down to getting stuff done. And,\nregardless of how things are named, Django gets stuff done in a way that’s most\nlogical to us.
\nWe’re well aware that there are other awesome Web frameworks out there, and\nwe’re not averse to borrowing ideas where appropriate. However, Django was\ndeveloped precisely because we were unhappy with the status quo, so please be\naware that “because <Framework X> does it” is not going to be sufficient reason\nto add a given feature to Django.
\nWhen Django was originally written a couple of years ago, Adrian and Simon\nspent quite a bit of time exploring the various Python Web frameworks\navailable.
\nIn our opinion, none of them were completely up to snuff.
\nWe’re picky. You might even call us perfectionists. (With deadlines.)
\nOver time, we stumbled across open-source libraries that did things we’d\nalready implemented. It was reassuring to see other people solving similar\nproblems in similar ways, but it was too late to integrate outside code: We’d\nalready written, tested and implemented our own framework bits in several\nproduction settings – and our own code met our needs delightfully.
\nIn most cases, however, we found that existing frameworks/tools inevitably had\nsome sort of fundamental, fatal flaw that made us squeamish. No tool fit our\nphilosophies 100%.
\nLike we said: We’re picky.
\nWe’ve documented our philosophies on the\ndesign philosophies page.
\nNo, Django is not a CMS, or any sort of “turnkey product” in and of itself.\nIt’s a Web framework; it’s a programming tool that lets you build Web sites.
\nFor example, it doesn’t make much sense to compare Django to something like\nDrupal, because Django is something you use to create things like Drupal.
\nOf course, Django’s automatic admin site is fantastic and timesaving – but\nthe admin site is one module of Django the framework. Furthermore, although\nDjango has special conveniences for building “CMS-y” apps, that doesn’t mean\nit’s not just as appropriate for building “non-CMS-y” apps (whatever that\nmeans!).
\nThe Django docs are available in the docs directory of each Django tarball\nrelease. These docs are in reST (reStructuredText) format, and each text file\ncorresponds to a Web page on the official Django site.
Because the documentation is stored in revision control, you can browse\ndocumentation changes just like you can browse code changes.
\nTechnically, the docs on Django’s site are generated from the latest development\nversions of those reST documents, so the docs on the Django site may offer more\ninformation than the docs that come with the latest Django release.
\nConsult our developers for hire page for a list of Django developers who\nwould be happy to help you.
\nYou might also be interested in posting a job to https://djangogigs.com/ .\nIf you want to find Django-capable people in your local area, try\nhttps://people.djangoproject.com/ .
\nIt’s difficult to give an official citation format, for two reasons: citation\nformats can vary wildly between publications, and citation standards for\nsoftware are still a matter of some debate.
\nFor example, APA style, would dictate something like:
\nDjango (Version 1.5) [Computer Software]. (2013). Retrieved from https://djangoproject.com.\nHowever, the only true guide is what your publisher will accept, so get a copy\nof those guidelines and fill in the gaps as best you can.
\nIf your referencing style guide requires a publisher name, use “Django Software\nFoundation”.
\nIf you need a publishing location, use “Lawrence, Kansas”.
\nIf you need a web address, use https://djangoproject.com.
\nIf you need a name, just use “Django”, without any tagline.
\nIf you need a publication date, use the year of release of the version you’re\nreferencing (e.g., 2013 for v1.5)
\n