What is Python‘s Django Used For? 5 Key Reasons I Use the Django Framework for Client Projects

As a seasoned full-stack developer, one of the most important decisions I make at the start of each web project is choosing the right development framework. The framework you build on top of has a profound impact on your team‘s velocity, productivity, and the long-term maintainability of the application. It‘s not a choice to make lightly.

Over the years, I‘ve experimented with numerous frameworks across various languages and stacks. And while I appreciate the diversity of options out there, I keep coming back to one framework in particular for the majority of my Python projects: Django.

According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2021, Django is the 4th most popular web framework overall, used by 14% of professional developers. It ranks as the #1 most loved Python framework, with 62% of developers expressing interest in continuing to work with it.

So what is Django exactly, and why has it become my go-to framework for client projects? In this in-depth post, I‘ll share my perspective on what makes Django special and walk through the top 5 reasons I believe it‘s one of the best options for full-stack web development.

What is Django?

At its core, Django is a high-level Python web framework designed to enable rapid development of secure and maintainable websites. It was created in 2003 by Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison, two web developers working for the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper. They named the framework after the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

Django follows the model-template-view (MTV) architectural pattern, which is a variant of the well-known model-view-controller (MVC) pattern. In Django‘s interpretation:

• Models define the data structure and are typically tied to a database table
• Templates control the presentation layer and define how data is displayed to the user
• Views encapsulate the business logic and act as the intermediary between models and templates

One of Django‘s key philosophies is "Don‘t Repeat Yourself" (DRY). The framework provides a rich set of built-in tools and abstractions that handle many of the repetitive tasks in web development. This allows developers to focus on writing the unique business logic for their application without needing to reinvent the wheel.

With that background in mind, let‘s dive into the top 5 reasons I use Django for client projects.

Reason 1: Django‘s Powerful Admin Interface

When building web applications for clients, one of the most common requirements is providing an administrative interface for managing the application‘s data. Clients typically need a way to view, create, edit, and delete records without needing to interact with the database directly.

In many frameworks, building an admin interface is a tedious, time-consuming process that requires creating numerous pages and forms. But with Django, you get a professional-grade admin interface out of the box for free.

Django‘s admin interface is one of its killer features. Just by defining your data models as Python classes, Django will automatically generate a production-ready admin site for your application. It provides a clean, intuitive interface for performing CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on your data.

Here‘s an example of how you might define a simple data model in Django for a blog post:

from django.db import models

class BlogPost(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    author = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    body = models.TextField()
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.title

With just that small amount of code, Django will generate an admin interface that looks like this:

The admin interface is highly customizable. You can control which models are exposed in the admin, customize how they‘re displayed, and even override the default templates to match your project‘s branding.

For most client projects I work on, the admin interface is one of the first things I set up. It‘s an easy win that provides immediate value to the client and saves countless hours of development time. It‘s also a great way to prototype and test out your data models before building the public-facing parts of your application.

Reason 2: Built-in User Authentication and Permission System

Another common requirement for web applications is user authentication and authorization. Whether you‘re building a simple brochure site or a complex web app, chances are you‘ll need a way for users to log in, log out, and manage their accounts.

Properly implementing authentication and authorization is critical for the security of your application, but it‘s also a complex and error-prone process. There are many potential pitfalls, such as storing passwords securely, handling password resets, and preventing common attacks like cross-site request forgery (CSRF).

Fortunately, Django comes with a robust, secure authentication system right out of the box. It provides a full-featured user model that handles user registration, login, logout, and password management. It also includes a granular permission system that allows you to control access to specific parts of your application based on a user‘s role or group membership.

Here‘s an example of how you might use Django‘s authentication system to protect a view so that only logged-in users can access it:

from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required

@login_required
def my_protected_view(request):
    # This view will only be accessible to authenticated users
    ...

Django‘s authentication system is also highly customizable. You can easily swap out the default user model for a custom one, integrate with third-party authentication providers like OAuth, or add two-factor authentication for extra security.

For most projects, Django‘s built-in authentication system covers all the bases. It abstracts away many of the low-level details and security best practices, allowing me to focus on the unique requirements of the application I‘m building. And if I need more advanced functionality, Django‘s well-documented authentication hooks make it straightforward to extend and customize.

Reason 3: Object-Relational Mapping (ORM)

At the heart of most web applications is a relational database that stores the application‘s data. Interfacing with the database is a core part of web development, but it can also be one of the most tedious and error-prone aspects.

Writing raw SQL queries by hand is time-consuming and requires in-depth knowledge of the specific database engine you‘re working with. It‘s easy to make mistakes that can lead to subtle bugs or even security vulnerabilities like SQL injection attacks.

This is where Django‘s powerful object-relational mapping (ORM) comes in. An ORM is a technique that allows you to interact with your database using your programming language‘s native objects and constructs, rather than writing SQL directly.

With Django‘s ORM, you define your data models as Python classes. Each model maps to a specific table in your database, and the model‘s attributes map to the table‘s columns. Here‘s an example of a simple model definition:

from django.db import models

class Product(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    description = models.TextField()
    price = models.DecimalField(max_digits=10, decimal_places=2)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

Under the hood, Django‘s ORM translates this model definition into the appropriate SQL statements to create the corresponding database table. You can then use a simple, expressive Python API to query and manipulate your data:

# Retrieve all products priced under $100
affordable_products = Product.objects.filter(price__lt=100)

# Get the average price of all products
average_price = Product.objects.aggregate(Avg(‘price‘))

The ORM provides a level of abstraction that allows you to work with your data in a more intuitive, object-oriented way. You can perform complex queries, traverse relationships between models, and update records using normal Python methods and operators.

Another huge advantage of using an ORM is that it abstracts away the differences between various database engines. Whether you‘re using PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, or Oracle, you can use the same Python code to interact with your data. This makes it much easier to switch databases in the future or to work with multiple databases simultaneously.

Django‘s ORM is one of the most mature and full-featured ORMs available in any web framework. It provides a powerful set of tools for working with databases efficiently and securely, which is why it‘s one of my favorite features of Django.

Reason 4: Rapid Development and Prototyping

In today‘s fast-paced software development world, the ability to rapidly prototype and iterate on ideas is crucial. Clients often want to see working versions of an application early and frequently throughout the development process.

Django excels at rapid application development. Its "batteries-included" philosophy means that it provides a comprehensive set of tools and libraries for handling common web development tasks out of the box. This allows developers to focus on writing the unique business logic for their application, rather than getting bogged down in low-level details.

One of the ways Django facilitates rapid development is through its command-line tools. The django-admin utility provides a set of high-level commands for common tasks like creating a new project, running the development server, or applying database migrations.

For example, to start a new Django project, you can use the startproject command:

django-admin startproject myproject

This will generate a standard project directory structure with sensible defaults, allowing you to hit the ground running. Similarly, the startapp command can be used to generate boilerplate code for a new Django app (a self-contained module within a project).

Another way Django speeds up development is through its use of conventions and sensible defaults. Django follows the "convention over configuration" paradigm, which means that it provides a set of default settings and behaviors that work well for most projects out of the box. This reduces the amount of boilerplate code you need to write and helps keep your codebase concise and readable.

For example, Django automatically generates a primary key field for each model, so you don‘t have to specify it manually. It also provides a default database schema based on your model definitions, so you don‘t have to write SQL migrations by hand.

Of course, Django also provides plenty of hooks and extension points for overriding its default behaviors when needed. But in my experience, the defaults are well-thought-out and cover most common use cases.

All of these features add up to a framework that allows you to go from idea to working prototype in record time. Django‘s streamlined development process and sensible defaults enable me to deliver working software to my clients faster, without sacrificing quality or maintainability.

Reason 5: Vibrant Ecosystem and Community

No web framework is an island. The strength of a framework‘s ecosystem and community are just as important as its technical features. A vibrant ecosystem provides access to a wide range of third-party packages, tools, and resources that can accelerate your development process and expand your application‘s capabilities.

Django has one of the most mature and well-established ecosystems of any web framework. The Django Package Index (DPI) hosts thousands of reusable packages and libraries that add functionality to the core framework. These packages cover everything from authentication and authorization to full-text search and real-time messaging.

Some of the most popular and useful Django packages include:

• Django REST Framework: A powerful toolkit for building Web APIs and RESTful services with Django.
• Django Channels: Adds support for WebSockets, chat protocols, and background tasks to Django applications.
• Wagtail: A flexible, user-friendly content management system (CMS) built on top of Django.
• Django Allauth: Provides drop-in support for user registration and authentication with social media accounts.
• Celery: A distributed task queue that allows you to run background jobs and schedule recurring tasks in Django applications.

In addition to the wide selection of packages, Django also benefits from a large and active community of developers. The Django community is known for being welcoming, inclusive, and beginner-friendly. There are numerous online resources, tutorials, and forums where you can get help and advice from experienced Django developers.

Some of the best community resources for learning and staying up-to-date with Django include:

• The official Django documentation and tutorial
• The Django Girls tutorial and workshop series
• The Django subreddit (/r/django)
• The Django Users mailing list and forum

The Django community also organizes regular conferences, meetups, and sprints where developers can network, learn from each other, and contribute to the framework‘s development. These events are a great way to deepen your knowledge of Django and connect with other developers who are passionate about the framework.

Personally, I‘ve found the Django community to be an invaluable resource throughout my career. Whether I‘m searching for a specific package to solve a problem, looking for guidance on best practices, or just need a second opinion on an architectural decision, I know I can rely on the expertise and generosity of the Django community.

Conclusion

To recap, we‘ve covered the top 5 reasons I use Django for client projects:

1. Django‘s powerful admin interface
2. Built-in user authentication and permission system
3. Object-relational mapping (ORM)
4. Rapid development and prototyping
5. Vibrant ecosystem and community

Of course, Django is not the only web framework out there, and it may not be the best fit for every project. Other popular Python frameworks like Flask and FastAPI are excellent choices for certain use cases, especially for smaller projects or microservices.

However, for the majority of full-stack web applications I build for clients, Django is my go-to choice. Its combination of power, flexibility, and ease-of-use is hard to beat. Django‘s opinionated approach and sensible defaults allow me to work efficiently and deliver robust, maintainable applications in a short timeframe.

Whether you‘re a seasoned full-stack developer or just getting started with web development, I highly recommend giving Django a try. Its comprehensive feature set and welcoming community make it a great choice for building all kinds of web applications.

I hope this in-depth look at Django‘s key features and benefits has been helpful. If you have any questions or want to share your own experiences with Django, feel free to reach out. Happy coding!