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137 lines
5.2 KiB
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137 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
==========
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Django FAQ
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==========
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General questions
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=================
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Why does this project exist?
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----------------------------
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Django grew from a very practical need: in our fast-paced newsroom, we often
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have only a matter of hours to take a complicated Web application from
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concept to public launch. Django was designed to not only allow us to
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build Web applications quickly, but to allow us to build them right.
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Django would not be possible without a whole host of open-source projects --
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`Apache`_, `Python`_, and `PostgreSQL`_ to name a few -- and we're thrilled to be
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able to give something back to the open-source community.
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.. _Apache: http://httpd.apache.org/
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.. _Python: http://www.python.org/
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.. _PostgreSQL: http://www.postgresql.org/
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What does "Django" mean, and how do you pronounce it?
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-----------------------------------------------------
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Django is named after `Django Reinhardt`_, a gypsy jazz guitarist from the 1930s
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to early 1950s. To this day, he's considered one of the best guitarists of all time.
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Listen to his music. You'll like it.
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According to Wikipedia_, "Django is pronounced **zhane**-go (with a long 'a')."
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.. _Django Reinhardt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt
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.. _Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt
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Is Django stable?
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-----------------
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We've been using Django for almost two years. Sites built on Django have
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weathered traffic spikes of over one million hits an hour, and at least
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one Slashdotting. Yes, it's quite stable.
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Does Django scale?
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------------------
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Yes. Compared to development time, hardware is cheap, and so Django is
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designed to take advantage of as much hardware as you can throw at it.
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Django ships with clean separation of the database layer from the
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application layer and a simple-yet-powerful `cache framework`_.
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.. _`cache framework`: http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/cache/
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Who's behind this?
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------------------
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Django was developed at `World Online`_, the Web department of a newspaper in
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Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
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`Adrian Holovaty`_
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Adrian is a gypsy-jazz virtuoso, an amateur Beatles historian and a proud
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Chicagoan. He's also a pretty decent programmer, with a knack for whipping
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data into shape and putting it to work for the good of his fellow man.
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Adrian is the lead developer at World Online and the man behind the code at
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`chicagocrime.org`_.
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`Simon Willison`_
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Simon is a well-respected Web developer from England. He had a one-year
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stint at World Online, during which time he and Adrian developed Django from
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scratch. He's enthusiastic, he's passionate about best practices in Web
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development, and he really likes squirrels. Probably to a fault. He went
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back to England to finish his degree and is poised to continue doing big,
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exciting things on the Web. Read his weblog at `simon.incutio.com`_.
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`Jacob Kaplan-Moss`_
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Jacob is a whipper-snapper from California who spends equal time coding and
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cooking. He does Web development for World Online and actively hacks on
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various cool side projects. He's contributed to the Python-ObjC bindings and
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was the first guy to figure out how to write Tivo apps in Python. Lately
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he's been messing with Python on the PSP.
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`Wilson Miner`_
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Wilson's design-fu makes us all look like rock stars. When not sneaking
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into apartment complex swimming pools he is the Commercial Development
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Director for World Online, which means he makes the money that pays all our
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paychecks.
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.. _`World Online`: http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/WorldOnline
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.. _`Adrian Holovaty`: http://www.holovaty.com/
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.. _`chicagocrime.org`: http://www.chicagocrime.org/
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.. _`Simon Willison`: http://simon.incutio.com/
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.. _`simon.incutio.com`: http://simon.incutio.com/
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.. _`Jacob Kaplan-Moss`: http://www.jacobian.org/
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.. _`Wilson Miner`: http://www.wilsonminer.com/live/
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Using Django
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============
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How do I get started?
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---------------------
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We're working on this documentation as you read this.
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What are Django's prerequisites?
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--------------------------------
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Django requires Python_ 2.3 or later, Apache2_, and mod_python_. You'll
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also need a database engine; PostgreSQL_ is recommended, and MySQL_ is
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supported.
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We're currently working on expanding those options: WSGI_ support is in the
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works (which will allow Django to run under CGI, FCGI, etc.), as is support for
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a number of other database backends.
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.. _Python: http://www.python.org/
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.. _Apache2: http://httpd.apache.org/
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.. _mod_python: http://www.modpython.org/
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.. _PostgreSQL: http://www.postgresql.org/
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.. _MySQL: http://www.mysql.com/
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.. _WSGI: http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0333.html
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The admin interface
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===================
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The dynamically-generated admin site is ugly! How can I change it?
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------------------------------------------------------------------
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We think it's very purty, but if you don't agree, you can modify the admin
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site's presentation by editing the CSS stylesheet and/or associated image files.
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The site is built using semantic HTML, so any changes you'd like to make should
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be possible by editing the CSS stylesheet. We've got a `guide to the CSS used in
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the admin`_ to get you started.
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.. _`guide to the CSS used in the admin`: http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/admin_css/
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