Why Django

As of this month, I'll have been using Django for two years, and using it professionally for a year. That's a strange thing to think about, because I still have a hard time calling myself a "programmer" (though "web developer" feels easier, for some reason). I am, after all, a politics major with zero formal training in computer science. Yet here we are.

Over the past few months, friends have started asking me about my favorite framework: How'd I get started? Is it as good as the hype? Can I, or should I, learn it?

Well...

Why I learned Django

Let me start by repeating what I said two years ago: I never meant to. My plan was to learn Drupal and possibly Google's map API. I really didn't know what Django was or why Python would become a language I would want to work in.

What diverted me was Matt Waite's blog post on learning Django. I followed the links, started playing, and ended up somewhere very different from where I intended to be. Such is life, I suppose.

Some of what I like about Python, in no particular order:

• I can read it: Yes, Python has significant white space. Indentation matters, which is rare in programming languages. There's also a style guide. All this makes for code I can walk through, even if I don't understand everything that's going on. More than anything else, this is how I have learned the language.
• The interactive interpreter: Getting instant feedback means easy wins. And it's even better with IPython.
• It's modular: So, if you've written a piece of code that does something I need done, I can probably use it, without having to copy/paste.

I know, other languages do this, too (all of the above, I'm pretty sure, applies to Ruby). Maybe I'll learn them eventually. But for someone coming to code with no real history in building things on the web, Python makes for quick wins and builds good habits.

Django builds on all of this.

It is meticulously documented, better than anything else I've used. Parts are (mostly) interchangeable, and quite a bit is usable outside of a full project. Enough is pre-built that wins come quick and errors give you back lots of information to figure out what to fix.

(For a more general explanation of why lots of other people like Django, read this thread on StackOverflow)

Django also comes from journalism. The turf and work flows of a newsroom are evident in its design. Models and views are Python, and meant for programmers. Templates are (mostly) HTML, and make no assumptions about programming knowledge. The admin is automatic and can be up in time for reporters to start plugging in data. Concerns are separated. This is, in most cases, a good thing.

Why not Drupal (or Rails, or Wordpress, or...)

I don't really have a good answer here, except that I find that Python and Django really suit the way I think and work. It feels natural, if a programming language can be described in such a way.

Maybe you like Ruby on Rails. Or Drupal. If you can build what you need in those (or whatever), great. There is no right answer here. Ask your techie friends which is better, and, well, Aron Pilhofer can tell you what happens (and he'll tell you Django sucks).

The only advice I can offer for journalists thinking about learning to code is to try it. Try everything. Find something that works for you and get really good at it. Then you, too, can write long blog posts about why that framework is your new bicycle.

In my next few posts, I'll go into more detail about learning Python and Django and answer some specific questions I've gotten from friends.

If you have an questions of your own, please leave a comment.

Before: More on China and Reality: The Big Disconnect | After: From Journalism to Django, Part One: Prerequisites