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Django Hello World

Django is a high-level web framework written in Python that allows developers to quickly build secure and scalable web applications. It follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, which separates the application logic from the user interface.

Django is known for its simplicity, flexibility, and robustness. It provides a set of tools and libraries for handling common web development tasks, such as URL routing, database management, form handling, and user authentication. With Django, developers can focus on writing application-specific code rather than dealing with low-level implementation details.

Official site: https://www.djangoproject.com/

History​

Django was initially developed as an in-house project at the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper in 2003 to simplify the creation of database-driven websites. It was released as an open-source framework in 2005 and has since gained widespread popularity and a large and active community of developers.

Features​

Django offers a wide range of features that make web development efficient and productive. Some of its notable features include:

  1. Object-Relational Mapping (ORM): Django provides a powerful ORM that allows developers to interact with databases using Python classes and methods, eliminating the need to write raw SQL queries.

  2. URL Routing: Django's URL routing system allows developers to map URLs to Python functions or class-based views, making it easy to define the structure of the application's URLs.

  3. Template Engine: Django's template engine enables the separation of HTML/CSS design from Python code, making it easier to maintain and modify the user interface.

  4. Form Handling: Django provides a comprehensive form handling system that simplifies the process of validating and processing user input.

  5. User Authentication: Django includes built-in authentication and authorization mechanisms, allowing developers to easily manage user registration, login, and permissions.

  6. Admin Interface: Django's admin interface provides a ready-to-use, customizable administrative interface for managing data models and performing common administrative tasks.

  7. Security: Django includes various security features, such as protection against common web vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting (XSS) and cross-site request forgery (CSRF).

Hello World Example​

Now let's take a look at a simple "Hello, World!" example using Django.

Installation​

Before getting started, make sure you have Python and pip (Python package manager) installed on your machine. You can install Django by running the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

pip install django

Creating a Django Project​

To create a new Django project, open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you want to create the project. Run the following command:

django-admin startproject myproject

This will create a new directory named "myproject" with the basic structure of a Django project.

Running the Development Server​

Change into the project directory:

cd myproject

Start the development server by running the following command:

python manage.py runserver

You should see the following output:

Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Quit the server with CONTROL-C.

Creating a Hello World View​

Open the myproject directory in your preferred code editor. Inside the directory, you'll find a file named views.py in the myproject subdirectory. Open that file and add the following code:

from django.http import HttpResponse

def hello(request):
    return HttpResponse("Hello, World!")

Creating a URL Route​

Next, we need to create a URL route to map the view to a specific URL. Open the urls.py file in the myproject subdirectory and add the following code:

from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('hello/', views.hello, name='hello'),
]

Testing the Hello World View​

Restart the development server if it's not already running. Open your web browser and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8000/hello/. You should see the text "Hello, World!" displayed in your browser.

Congratulations! You have successfully created a simple "Hello, World!" application using Django.

Comparison with Alternatives​

Django is one of the popular web frameworks available in Python. Here's a brief comparison with two other popular frameworks:

  1. Flask: Flask is a micro web framework that is lightweight and highly customizable. It is suitable for small to medium-sized projects and provides more flexibility in terms of choosing libraries and components. However, Flask requires more manual configuration compared to Django, which comes with many built-in features and conventions.

  2. Ruby on Rails: Ruby on Rails is a web framework written in Ruby that follows similar principles to Django. It provides a full-stack solution with a strong emphasis on convention over configuration. Ruby on Rails is known for its elegant syntax and rapid development capabilities. However, Django has a larger community and ecosystem, and Python is generally considered to have a more extensive set of libraries and tools.