A short guide to applying Django in web development
Django is an excellent choice for start-ups and also performs outstandingly well in the further development of full-blown projects.
What is Django?
Django is a free, open source, Python-based framework. It was designed to develop web applications in a fast and easy manner. Django relies heavily on the DRY concept (Don’t Repeat Yourself), so it encourages rapid development and clean, practical design. It offers a solid foundation for Python development, allowing developers to focus on the parts of their site that are unique to their project, and not waste time with boilerplate code.
What kind of products can I build applying Django?
Django comes with a wide range of libraries and tools that make the framework a good choice when you’re building a highly customisable app, such as a social media website. It is also a highly structured framework, forcing developers to do things the Django way. Thanks to these conventions, Django is perfect for building a site that requires a strong and secure foundation that protects transactions and sensitive data, such as an ecommerce site.
The framework hides the source code by default, and it’s often one of the first frameworks to respond to a new vulnerability. It has a solid user authentication model, and its core team also usually alerts other frameworks of patches they should make to maintain security. This all makes Django a very suitable choice when security is a top priority.
When you need an app that can grow in depth and complexity to any scale and is capable of handling as many visitors and/or transactions as demanded, Django shines.
Django also bears backwards compatibility in mind as a central part of its ethos. If you need a versatile framework capable of building a site that can respond to variable demands, such as an online marketplace website like Gumtree, Django is an excellent choice.
Which companies use Django?
Let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest Django players on the market that have made good use of this technology.
1. Instagram
This Python-based photo and video-sharing social network needs to process huge amounts of data and manage an even greater number of interactions between users every single second.
The Django framework helps Instagram deal with all of this in perfect accordance with its three core principles: keep it simple, don’t reinvent the wheel, and go with proven and solid technologies.
2. Spotify
Spotify bet on Python for both backend services and machine learning. And in order to make the most of this programming language, they also combined it with the Django framework.
3. YouTube
Originally it was a PHP-based project, but the constant need to improve its performance and add new functionalities forced YT to turn to Python as well. Django is a big help to the YouTube team of developers, allowing them to act quickly and flawlessly.
4. The biggest media sites
Django allows The Washington Post website to handle huge traffic, providing fast and efficient performance. For the same reason, the framework is also leveraged by The Guardian, the satirical newspaper The Onion, and partially by The New York Times, as well.
5. Dropbox
The platform is powered primarily by Python (both the server and the desktop client software), which is why it was able to develop so fast. Dropbox devs also chose the Django framework to enable storing, synchronization, and sharing options for various types of files.