Days 10-12: Python (Django)

We’re going to delve further into the details of what we were really up to in working with Heroku:

• https://www.djangoproject.com/start/overview/
• https://www.djangoproject.com/start/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_(web_framework)
• Watch this historic talk between 2 great software engineering luminaries

Why?

As of 2020, Django is the most popular so-called “web framework” for building web applications using Python.

Companies like Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify, YouTube, Pinterest use it.

Using Django provides you with a lot of helpful tools out of the box:

• An interface for communicating with a database to store your user’s data
• A “templating” engine to personalize web pages to each of your users
• Tools for “caching” your site so that your application can handle millions of users trying to use your application simultaneously

Outcomes of this studying

You should:

• understand what Django is
• be able to explain why a business might use a technology like Python + Django
• understand the concept of “Model-View-Controller”
• be able to explain (in simple terms) what an ORM is
• be able to explain why a company might use Django to help build their software product

Extra credit reading

• Using Google search, locate the biggest companies/startups that use Django in their business
• Look at the jobs/careers pages of companies you would potentially like to work for as a software engineer--find 5-10
  • What skills are they looking for?
  • If not Python/Django, what technology are they seeking experience with?