Introduction for Dummies (But You're Not Dumb!): First Spell

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Hello netiverse wizards! We assemble here yet again to unravel the mysteries of our netiverse. The charm we are going to learn today is Django, a term most of you must have come accross while traversing the netiverse on your brooms. We shall learn the Django charm from a complete beginner's perspective to ensure that y'all wizards are effectively trained to cast Django Spells all around the netiverse.

Disclaimer: The Django Charm is easy to learn despite rumors going round the netiverse that its hard laugh. In fact, this meeting shall be fun and so easy to follow and will make you wonder why you didn't learn it sooner. So, hurry, get your magic wands ready for this fun journey cheeky.

Let's start...

 

What's Django?

Maybe you're wondering where within the netiverse you might have come accross the word Django. Let's look into it togetherwink.

First, imagine Django as the secret magic recipe for creating awesome websites. It's like having a wizard's spellbook filled with special codes that makes your ideas come to life on the website you build. Django enables netiverse wizards to code and become true web wizards, making cool stuff happen on the netiverse like magic.

coolI'll use this corner to whisper the formal definition of Django that commoners who know nothing about our wizard netiverse use. This is our little secret though coz we aren't supposed to mingle or identify with commoners devil.

Formal Definition: Django is a Web Framework built using python and provides a set of tools and functionalities which helps solve most common problems related to Web development.

I know you must be yawning after all that commoner formal jargon angry. Don't worry though, I got all my wizards covered. I'll not allow any technical jargon to harass you.

Anyways, let's continue demystifying the Django charm...

Uncle Harry says hi by the way and says he'll be popping up to check on our progress from time to time wink.


Why Django?

Imagine Django as a super cool toolbox for making awesome websites. It's like a magical kit that helps us create safe and strong web apps without making everything from scratch.

Why is Django so special? Well, first, it's like a superhero language called Python. With Django, we get to use lots of ready-made tools from a huge collection of free stuff. It's like having a bag full of amazing toys!

Django isn't just any superhero, though – it's the best one in the Python world. It comes with everything we need, like a special server to test our creations, a magic spell for making things load super fast, and even a cool system for organizing all our data. Django even has pre-made tools like a secret code for checking who's allowed to use our website, a clever interface for easily managing our website (Django Admin), and tricks for showing off news or maps.

People who really love Django help make it better, and some companies give it extra support to keep it growing and getting even cooler. Django has been around for a long time, proving it's a strong and safe friend for making websites. So, wizards, this is our magic charm for building our magical websites, Django is the way to go!


Who is Using Django?

Big companies like Instagram, Disqus, and National Geographic use Django to do amazing things on the internet. It's like they have their own wizard helping them! If you want to see more websites made with Django, there's a big list on the Django Sites database with over 5,000 of them.

Oh, and guess what? One of the wizards who helps make Django is named Carl Meyer. He works at Instagram, and he once talked about how instagram uses Django at scale use Django at a big conference. It's like a magical show where he tells everyone how Instagram uses Django to grow and do awesome things. If you like stories about magic and websites, you might find his talk interesting. You can watch it here !


That's enough Django theory for now wizards laugh. It's now time to get our hands dirty with our first practical Django charm project! First, we'll need to install some important programs on our computer to be able to start casting Django spells. The three fundamentall stuff we will need to install are Python, Virtualenv, and Django. Don't worry if you don't know what these three are coz they'll become apparent by the time we set up our first Django project.

Lets start cooking...

Installing Python

We'll start by installing the latest distribution of Python, which is Python 3.9.0 by the time I'm cooking this charm. Incase there is a newer version by the time you are reading this, please go with it. Otherwise, the next steps should be somehow the same.

You'll find the download link at www.python.org/downloads/ . You'll see a typical page like the one below:

Click on the "Download Python 3.9.0" button to start the download and once done, navigate to your Downloads directory. You should see your Downloaded Python installer file here. Proceed to right click on the installer and click on Run as adminstrator as shown below:

Ensure you check the Add Python 3.9 to PATH check box on the first prompt you will see in the installation wizard. You will see something like this:

Once the installation is complete, you'll see the following screen:

Now, to confirm if everything is set up and working okay upto this point, we are going to be using our Windows Terminal (also referred to as Command Prompt). To do so, type cmd on the search bar on the bottom left part of your screen next to the windows icon as shown below:

Once you open it, type the following command:


python --version

You should see the following output:


Good job reaching this far netiverse wizard. I'm sure that was quite a mouthful. Fortunately, that'll be it for this meeting. We'll gather once more next time to learn tips on how to install and setup our virtual environment! Until then, stay dangerous devil

Pstt! Almost forgot Uncle Harry's message to y'all. He says he'll ensure to provide a useful links to charms going forward. He's provided the first for the next charm. Find it hiddden somewhere below wink.

Setting up the Virtual Environmet ►


 

Useful Wands