Introduction
Back in the late 1990s, you could freshen up and make coffee while trying to connect to the Internet and load a website. Today, websites don’t take longer than 5.5 seconds to load. With modern languages such as Python, Go, Rust, to name a few etc. and web frameworks like Django, React, Next, Ruby on Rails, etc., creating a user-friendly website that is dynamic, interactive and responsive is an easy task. Web development continues to evolve as newer technologies enter the market. In this blog, we will look at Django, a Python-based web framework that allows you to create efficient web applications.
What is a Python framework?
Frameworks simplify and streamline the process of creating applications. In the context of web development, Python frameworks have built-in modules, libraries, and tools that offer a reusable but structured base for developers to create software applications. Python frameworks are specifically designed to build web applications. Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey, and Spotify are some popular web applications built using Python. Python frameworks such as Django, Flask, and Pyramid come with built-in features, such as templating engines, ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) systems, and tools for handling HTTP requests and responses. Python frameworks are known to improve development speed, maintainability, and adherence to best practices.
Types of Python Frameworks
Python frameworks can be divided into three main types:
- Full-Stack framework
- Micro framework
- Asynchronous framework
- Full-Stack framework
A full-stack Python framework offers one-stop solutions for all web development requirements. A full-stack framework like Django has built-in libraries that help developers during the creation of databases, front-end interfaces, and back-end services. - Micro framework
A microframework, as the name suggests, offers limited components that can be used to build lightweight, minimalistic web applications. Developers would have to do extensive coding while using these, as microframeworks do not offer a database abstraction layer, form validation, web template engine, authentication functionality, authorization, input validation, and input sanitation. - Asynchronous framework
An asynchronous Python framework is a type of microframework that takes help from Python’s Asyncio library. It allows developers to handle and manage large sets of concurrent connections. It helps execute many tasks together, such as web servers handling multiple simultaneous connections or applications involving frequent I/O operations.
Apart from the above three, Python frameworks can be categorized further based on what they are being used for:
- Testing frameworks
- RESTful API frameworks
- GUI frameworks
- Data Science frameworks
- Machine Learning frameworks
- Game development frameworks
What is Django?
Django is a web application framework written in Python, and one of the most popular frameworks used, especially in the United States. It helps developers build applications from concept to completion efficiently and quickly. Dubbed as a “ridiculously fast” framework by its developers, Django is free and open source and is available under the BSD license. Pronounced ‘Jango,’ Django is named after the famous jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt and was first released for public use in 2005. The latest official version is Django 5.0. and needs the latest version of Python 3.
Latest Releases
| Release Series | Latest Release | End of mainstream support | End of extended support |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | 5.0 | August 2024 | April 2025 |
| 4.2 LTS | 4.2.8 | December 4, 2023 | April 2026 |
| 3.2 LTS | 3.2.23 | December 7, 2021 | April 2024 |
Unsupported Previous Releases
| Release Series | Latest Release | End of mainstream support | End of extended support |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | 4.1.13 | April 5, 2023 | December 1, 2023 |
| 4.0 | 4.0.10 | August 3, 2022 | April 1, 2023 |
| 3.1 | 3.1.14 | April 6, 2021 | December 7, 2021 |
| 3.0 | 3.0.14 | August 3, 2020 | April 6, 2021 |
| 2.2 LTS | 2.2.28 | December 2, 2019 | April 11, 2022 |
| 2.1 | 2.1.15 | April 1, 2019 | December 2, 2019 |
| 2.0 | 2.0.13 | August 1, 2018 | April 1, 2019 |
| 1.11 LTS 3 | 1.11.29 | December 2, 2017 | April 1, 2020 |
| 1.10 | 1.10.8 | April 4, 2017 | December 2, 2017 |
| 1.9 | 1.9.13 | August 1, 2016 | April 4, 2017 |
| 1.8 LTS | 1.8.19 | December 1, 2015 | April 1, 2018 |
| 1.7 | 1.7.11 | April 1, 2015 | December 1, 2015 |
| 1.6 | 1.6.11 | September 2, 2014 | April 1, 2015 |
| 1.5 | 1.5.12 | November 6, 2013 | September 2, 2014 |
| 1.4 LTS | 1.4.22 | February 26, 2013 | October 1, 2015 |
| 1.3 | 1.3.7 | March 23, 2012 | February 26, 2013 |
Django is a full-stack web development framework with support from MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and Oracle databases and helps developers build feature-rich applications. As it uses ORM for object mapping into database tables, developers can use the same code with different databases.
Django was initially used for content management systems but is now used for a variety of web applications. Web developers can use Django to build feature-rich, secure and scalable websites — social networks, news sites, wikis, and content management systems.
Architecture of Django
Django follows the MVT (Model-View-Template) architecture. Model is the structure of storing the data in the database, View is a Python function that handles the web request and sends a response, and Template contains static content like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This means that the framework can communicate between the three without the need for complicated code.
Django in Python
Django, a Python-based web framework that allows you to create efficient web applications. Top Reasons to Use Django for Web Development.
PublishedDecember 18, 2023
CategoryDjango for Web Development
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