Change the future

Effective Django

So you've decided that you're interested in Django, and want to get started effectively. Congratulations! :) I'm looking forward to walking through building a simple project with Django utilizing some of the newer features, including Class Based Views. We'll be focusing on building the project in a way that emphasizes software engineering principles, and you'll get introduced to Django's full suite of testing tools.

We only have 3 hours together, so it's important to come prepared. At the very minimum you'll need to have the following working:

  • A terminal/console
  • A text editor of your choice
  • Python (I'll be using 2.7)
  • virtualenv

It will also be helpful to have git installed and working: I'll have the sample code available as a git repository with tags you can check out to catch up if you fall behind.

The good folks at Open Hatch have developed a laptop setup guide that has great instructions for setting up your laptop on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. If you follow that guide (with the exception of step 5, which is specific to their tutorial), you'll be in good shape.

I'm developing the tutorial and content using Sphinx, and you can get a sneak preview at http://effectivedjango.com/tutorial. You can check out the tutorial text and the sample code from Github if you're so inclined.

If you run into problems, have questions about getting things setup (or anything else), feel free to email me at nathan@yergler.net

See you soon.