Getting started with Django Web Framework and Docker

Hey there, it is my first blog about Django Web Framework and Docker. This quick-start guide demonstrates what Django Web Framework is, why we use Django rather than other frameworks, and how to dockerize the Django web app. It seems very interesting to deploy a web app through Django.

Figure 1-Django Docker

Django Web Framework:

Django is a high-level python web framework that enables the expeditious development of secure and maintainable websites. It is free and open-source, has a flourishing and agile community.

Django helps you to write software that is complete, versatile, secure, scalable, maintainable, and portable. Django runs on many platforms like Mac OS, Linux, and Windows. Many prominent sites use Django Framework including Disqus, Pinterest, Instagram, Mozilla, and open stack. Now the question arises of whether Django is opinionated or not opinionated? 

The proper way to handle a specific task is that opinionated frameworks should be used. In contrast, unopinionated frameworks have few diminutions on the perfect way to stick components together to accomplish an aim.

Django is “considerably opinionated”, and hence delivers both facilities which are provided by opinionated and unopinionated frameworks individually.

It contributes a group of components to manipulate many web development tasks and one or two selected ways to use them.

Django code architecture:

The Django web app arranges the code that handles each of the following steps into different files:

Figure 2-Django code architecture

A web application waits for HTTP requests from a web browser or some other client in a conventional component-based website. After a request is received by the application, it detects the information based upon the URL and the POST and GET methods which are used to transfer data between client and server (HTTP). The database is accessed and other tasks take place depending on what type of information is required. The application then returns an HTTP response to the web browser.

• URLs: It is much more rectifiable to take a separate view function for each resource when it is feasible to take requests from every individual URL via an individual function. A URL mapper is used to redirect HTTP requests to the suitable views centered on the request URL.
• View: A view handles requests so it is known as the request handler function, which accepts HTTP requests and returns HTTP responses. View retrieves the data required to assure requests via Models.
• Models: Models are the objects of python that determine the structure of the app’s data, and furnish apparatus to handle query records to the database.

What else can we get done using Django?

The foregoing sections display the primary features that you will utilize in almost every web application: URL, models, and views. Django includes a few of the other things also:

• Forms: To collect data for processing on the server HTML forms are used. Form creation, validation, and processing are simplified by Django.
• User permission and authentication: Dynamic user authentication and permission system are also included in Django.
• Admin site: When you create an app using the basic framework the Django admin site is included by default, it makes it easy to provide an admin page for the site admin to modify(create, edit and view) any data models in your site.
• Serialization: Django makes it simple to serialize and serve your data in form of JSON or XML. When creating a web service or creating a website in which client-side code manages all rendering of data, this can be useful.

Django REST Framework:

REST (Representational state transfer) is a conventional architecture for building and communicating with web services. They use HTTP request methods to make it easier for the request-response cycle and typically transfer data using JSON format.

An API (Application Programming Interface), as the name suggests, is an interface that defines different interactions between different software components. Rest APIs are created using Django Rest Framework. It is a toolset that is assembled on top of the Django web framework, reducing the amount of code you need to write to create REST interfaces.

Django vs Flask vs Fast API:

Django, Flask, and Fast API are three major frameworks, which are used for developing web applications.

Packages: Among these three frameworks, Django has packages that enable the reusability of code. Django is a full-stack web development framework, in contrast to Flask and Fast API, which are minimally used frameworks to build a fast website.

Community: Because of Django’s wide use and popularity Django has an eminent community next to Flask, which also has a triumphant community. On the other side, fast API is relatively new so it has a small community.

Job openings: There are more job openings in the Python web community with Django requirements, next Flask, and Fast API, which has far fewer job openings. So if you have an objective of getting a job quickly, then Django should be best.

Hence, Django is a quick web development framework and if you want to get your application robust and built fast within a few days, there is no better framework than Django Web Framework. Django is also called the “Batteries Included Framework” because it provides all the features.

Introduction to Docker:

To materialize a Django project, frequently you require an off-the-rack solution in form of a library or dependency.

This is not an issue because is often registered in the requirements.txt file, which is a file that lists all the modules that are needed for the Django project to work.

 

The conflict starts when you attempt to share the entire project with another individual who wants to run and test it because, unfortunately, the user will have to perform the setup from scratch every time you make notable changes in the libraries and dependencies.

This is where containerization and docker fall in. Docker is an incredibly popular containerization platform that solves the library and dependency issue once and for all.

Conclusion:

In this portion, you have learned about Django Framework and I have wrapped it with a Docker introduction. If you enjoyed reading through this article, do let me know, and keep looking out for the next posts in this series of blogs. What we discussed today is just the tip of an iceberg and we will go through this topic thoroughly.

References:

• https://www.codingforentrepreneurs.com/blog/django-on-docker
• https://ozenero.com/django-crud-angular-11-postgresql
• https://medium.com/swlh/build-your-first-rest-api-with-django-rest-framework-e394e39a482c
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Introduction