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195 lines
8.2 KiB
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195 lines
8.2 KiB
Plaintext
.. _faq-general:
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FAQ: General
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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: World Online, a newspaper Web
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operation, is responsible for building intensive Web applications on journalism
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deadlines. In the fast-paced newsroom, World Online often has only a matter of
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hours to take a complicated Web application from concept to public launch.
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At the same time, the World Online Web developers have consistently been
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perfectionists when it comes to following best practices of Web development.
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In fall 2003, the World Online developers (Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison)
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ditched PHP and began using Python to develop its Web sites. As they built
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intensive, richly interactive sites such as Lawrence.com, they began to extract
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a generic Web development framework that let them build Web applications more
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and more quickly. They tweaked this framework constantly, adding improvements
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over two years.
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In summer 2005, World Online decided to open-source the resulting software,
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Django. Django would not be possible without a whole host of open-source
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projects -- `Apache`_, `Python`_, and `PostgreSQL`_ to name a few -- and we're
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thrilled to be 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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Django is pronounced **JANG**-oh. Rhymes with FANG-oh. The "D" is silent.
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We've also recorded an `audio clip of the pronunciation`_.
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.. _Django Reinhardt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt
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.. _audio clip of the pronunciation: http://red-bean.com/~adrian/django_pronunciation.mp3
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Is Django stable?
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-----------------
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Yes. World Online has been using Django for more than three years. Sites built
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on Django have weathered traffic spikes of over one million hits an hour and a
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number of Slashdottings. 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 uses a "shared-nothing" architecture, which means you can add hardware
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at any level -- database servers, caching servers or Web/application servers.
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The framework cleanly separates components such as its database layer and
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application layer. And it ships with a simple-yet-powerful
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:ref:`cache framework <topics-cache>`.
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Who's behind this?
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------------------
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Django was originally developed at World Online, the Web department of a
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newspaper in Lawrence, Kansas, USA. Django's now run by an international team of
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volunteers; you can read all about them over at the :ref:`list of committers
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<internals-committers>`
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Which sites use Django?
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-----------------------
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The Django wiki features a consistently growing `list of Django-powered sites`_.
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Feel free to add your Django-powered site to the list.
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.. _list of Django-powered sites: http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/DjangoPoweredSites
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.. _mtv:
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Django appears to be a MVC framework, but you call the Controller the "view", and the View the "template". How come you don't use the standard names?
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Well, the standard names are debatable.
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In our interpretation of MVC, the "view" describes the data that gets presented
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to the user. It's not necessarily *how* the data *looks*, but *which* data is
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presented. The view describes *which data you see*, not *how you see it.* It's
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a subtle distinction.
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So, in our case, a "view" is the Python callback function for a particular URL,
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because that callback function describes which data is presented.
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Furthermore, it's sensible to separate content from presentation -- which is
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where templates come in. In Django, a "view" describes which data is presented,
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but a view normally delegates to a template, which describes *how* the data is
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presented.
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Where does the "controller" fit in, then? In Django's case, it's probably the
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framework itself: the machinery that sends a request to the appropriate view,
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according to the Django URL configuration.
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If you're hungry for acronyms, you might say that Django is a "MTV" framework
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-- that is, "model", "template", and "view." That breakdown makes much more
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sense.
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At the end of the day, of course, it comes down to getting stuff done. And,
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regardless of how things are named, Django gets stuff done in a way that's most
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logical to us.
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<Framework X> does <feature Y> -- why doesn't Django?
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-----------------------------------------------------
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We're well aware that there are other awesome Web frameworks out there, and
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we're not averse to borrowing ideas where appropriate. However, Django was
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developed precisely because we were unhappy with the status quo, so please be
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aware that "because <Framework X> does it" is not going to be sufficient reason
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to add a given feature to Django.
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Why did you write all of Django from scratch, instead of using other Python libraries?
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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When Django was originally written a couple of years ago, Adrian and Simon
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spent quite a bit of time exploring the various Python Web frameworks
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available.
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In our opinion, none of them were completely up to snuff.
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We're picky. You might even call us perfectionists. (With deadlines.)
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Over time, we stumbled across open-source libraries that did things we'd
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already implemented. It was reassuring to see other people solving similar
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problems in similar ways, but it was too late to integrate outside code: We'd
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already written, tested and implemented our own framework bits in several
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production settings -- and our own code met our needs delightfully.
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In most cases, however, we found that existing frameworks/tools inevitably had
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some sort of fundamental, fatal flaw that made us squeamish. No tool fit our
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philosophies 100%.
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Like we said: We're picky.
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We've documented our philosophies on the
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:ref:`design philosophies page <misc-design-philosophies>`.
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Is Django a content-management-system (CMS)?
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--------------------------------------------
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No, Django is not a CMS, or any sort of "turnkey product" in and of itself.
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It's a Web framework; it's a programming tool that lets you build Web sites.
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For example, it doesn't make much sense to compare Django to something like
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Drupal_, because Django is something you use to *create* things like Drupal.
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Of course, Django's automatic admin site is fantastic and timesaving -- but
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the admin site is one module of Django the framework. Furthermore, although
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Django has special conveniences for building "CMS-y" apps, that doesn't mean
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it's not just as appropriate for building "non-CMS-y" apps (whatever that
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means!).
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.. _Drupal: http://drupal.org/
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How can I download the Django documentation to read it offline?
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---------------------------------------------------------------
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The Django docs are available in the ``docs`` directory of each Django tarball
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release. These docs are in ReST (ReStructured Text) format, and each text file
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corresponds to a Web page on the official Django site.
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Because the documentation is `stored in revision control`_, you can browse
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documentation changes just like you can browse code changes.
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Technically, the docs on Django's site are generated from the latest development
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versions of those ReST documents, so the docs on the Django site may offer more
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information than the docs that come with the latest Django release.
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.. _stored in revision control: http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/docs
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Where can I find Django developers for hire?
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--------------------------------------------
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Consult our `developers for hire page`_ for a list of Django developers who
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would be happy to help you.
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You might also be interested in posting a job to http://djangogigs.com/ .
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If you want to find Django-capable people in your local area, try
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http://djangopeople.net/ .
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.. _developers for hire page: http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/DevelopersForHire
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