Getting started with Django

Features of Django

Some of the features of Django are as follows:-

1. Security: 

Django helps developers avoid common security mistakes by automatically providing a framework engineered to "do the right things" for protecting the website. For example, it provides a secure way to manage passwords and user accounts, avoiding mistakes like inserting session information in cookies where it is vulnerable or directly storing passwords rather than a password hash.
 

Django enables protection against severe vulnerabilities, including cross-site scripting, SQL(Structured Query Language) injection, request forgery, and clickjacking.
 

2. Versatility: 

Django can build various types of websites, from content management systems and wikis to social networks and news sites. It can work with a client-side framework and deliver content in any format such as HTML(Hypertext Markup Language), JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), XML(Extensible Markup Language), etc. While, internally, it provides choices for various functionalities like templating engines, databases, etc., it can also extend to use other components if needed.
 

3. Maintainable

Django follows the "Don't Repeat Yourself" principle. As the name says, this principle is all about keeping the code simple and non-repeating. This makes the code maintainable by avoiding unnecessary duplication and reducing the amount of code.
 

It also promotes the grouping of related functionality into reusable applications and, at a lower level, groups related code into modules. 

4. Portability

Django is written in Python, which runs on many platforms. Hence, it can run on platforms like Linux, Windows, Mac OS, etc. Furthermore, Django is well-supported by many web-hosting providers, who often provide specific infrastructure and documentation for hosting Django sites.
 

5. Scalability

Django uses a component-based "shared-nothing" architecture, i.e., each part of the architecture is independent of the others and can hence be changed if needed. A clear separation between the different components means it can be scaled with increased traffic by adding hardware at any level.

6. Fully loaded

Django includes various helping task modules and libraries that can handle common Web development tasks. It takes care of site maps, content administration,  user authentication, RSS feeds, etc.

Advantages

The advantages of using Django are as follows:-

• Django provides Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) support. It provides a bridge between the data model and the database engine and supports many database systems, including MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, etc. It also provides supports to the NoSQL database through the Django-nonrel fork. The only NoSQL databases supported are MongoDB and google app engine.
• Highly scalable
• Django has a built-in internationalization system that gives it support for multilingual websites. 
• Built-in support for RSS(RDF Site Summary), Ajax, caching, etc.
• A ready-to-use user interface for administrative activities is available.
• Easy to switch database
• It comes with a lightweight webserver to facilitate end-to-end application development and testing.
• Django is an open-source web application framework. Hence, it is publicly available for free and can be downloaded from the public repository along with the source code. Also, the total cost of application development is reduced because of this.
•  Django has a widely supportive community and channels to share and connect.

Disadvantages

Some of the disadvantages of using Django are as follows:-

• Django is designed for quickly building large applications, and it requires server processing time and bandwidth while developing. Large bandwidth gets wasted while building small projects. Also, a small project developer can get confused with all the unwanted and unique functionalities. Hence, it is not suitable for small projects.
• The ORM system lacks features like it does not allow the programmers to use SQLAlchemy, a Python toolkit, completely.
• Django has a steep learning curve. Although it is a simple web framework, developers find Django challenging to learn. Having prior knowledge of Python may be helpful to grab things faster, but switching from another language may be tricky at first.
• Multiprocessing is a demand of today, and the applications must support multiprocessing. Django is not capable of handling multiple requests at the same time. This creates limitations while writing codes and forces developers to search for alternate ways.
• While specifying URL(Uniform Resource Locator), there can be issues, and template error can become time-consuming.
• Django provides all its packages and libraries altogether, which means there is a need to install them in one go. The coupling becomes tighter with its ORM, Template engine system, and settings object which might irritate the users.
• Django focuses on providing code-oriented programming. It has a specific set of files, which has to be learned. Developers have already created many models that may be reused in different projects, allowing developers only to use them rather than make any changes. So for the developer, playing with the existing codes is not an option. While working with Django, one only has to focus on the project rather than some complex programming.
   

Check out the blog Advantages & Disadvantages of Django for a better understanding.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Which design pattern does Django use? 
   Django uses the Model View Template (MVT) design pattern. It consists of the following three components:-
   Model: It is a data access layer that handles the data.
   View: It executes the business logic and interacts with a model to carry data and render a template.
   Template: It is a presentation layer that handles the User Interface part.
    
2. Name some sites using Django.
   Django is widely used by various well-known sites like:
   Instagram
   Disqus
   Mozilla
   Bitbucket
   Pinterest
    
3. How does Django achieve scalability?
   The Django web nodes do not have any stored state. This allows it to scale horizontally by firing up more web nodes when required.
    
4. Mention the design philosophies of Django.
   Django follows the following design philosophies:
   Less Coding − Less code and rapid development.
   Loosely Coupled − In Django, each element of its stack is independent of the others.
   Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) − Do not repeat the code.
   Clean Design − Django strictly maintains a clean design throughout its code and makes it easy to follow the best web development practices.
   Fast Development − Django facilitates hyper-fast development.
    
5. Name some of the hosting services that support Django.
   Most hosting services like Heroku, AWS Lambda, Cpanel PythonAnywhere support the Django application.

Key Takeaways

In this blog, we covered the introduction to Django along with the features, advantages, and disadvantages in detail.

Don't stop here. Check out the blogs Best Django Books, Top 30 Basic Django Interview Questions: Part 1, and Top 30 Intermediate Django Interview Questions: Part 2.

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