Let me preface with a quick summary of what Django is and why learn it. Django is a pythonic means of constructing a web framework quickly, not to be mistaken with the Quentin Tarantino movie. When building a web application many of the moving parts are universal among all web applications from moving data between databases to creating user accounts. The other popular web framework constructor is Rails which uses the Ruby language. Since I have chosen Python as my go to language learning Django was a natural extension to my self-education. It goes without explaining that web applications are replacing standalone installed programs. Companies such as Microsoft are moving office to the web, and many many other SaaS or Software as a Service companies are turning to the web as the medium for providing a service. My personal goal is to become knowledgeable of web app development and in my free time create tools online that benefit society, hopefully from a sustainability angle.

From last week’s exercises I found that I learn best through example. So I decided to take the same approach with getting started with Django. There are many good books out there on Django but since I am interested in only Kindle e-books, having my entire library accessible digitally is vital, I chose to go with Instant Django 1.5 Application Development Starter. The advantage of this book is that it is still relevant, as of this posting the latest version of Django is 1.6, while one of the main resources out there The Django Book is admittedly outdated. Instant Django is a relatively short book that assumes basic competence with Python but no prior knowledge with web development. I have worked through 1/3 of creating my own simple question and answer app and though not everything makes sense yet this has been a gentle learn by example exercise.