One thing I appreciate are short, clear examples that illustrate a point but also cause you to reach a wider understanding on your own. If you can get your point across in 10 lines of simple code, do it, rather than using 50 lines of fancy code. The real trick in doing so is avoiding writing multiple "Hello World" level examples.
This books manages that very well. For example, at some point they used a template example that was a bit longer than their usual but only in order to contrast Django's template inheritance approach to a simple include-subtemplate approach (which Django also allows). They then point out the conceptual difference in a sentence and leave you to work out the implications which any savvy programmer should be able to do.
One advantage of exploring particular problem domains with Python is that the language is simple enough that you can spend a lot of time thinking about the core concepts rather than about coding implementation issues. For the newbie to web programming this book highlights many bits of web knowledge, like caching, html headers, and especially web security. It's almost worth it to buy it and use Django just to 'get' http even if you end up using some other web framework later.
Any drawbacks? A few. It would have been nice to see more Ajax and XHTML examples and most of all, advice on unit testing approaches. Some points were omitted specifically because they are covered by plugins that are still under development. Nothing you can't pick up online though.
One other caveat: though it walks you through web development, this book assumes a basic understanding of Python and HTML. CSS and Javascript aren't covered.
Overall you are left with a solid basis of how to use, and extend, Django in under 300 easy-to-read pages (plus 130 of technical appendix). Is this book useful beyond the online docs? Definitely. The Django online docs were good enough to get me started, but the examples here gave me a number of important insights on Django best practices. If you value your time, get it and give a bit back to the guys who wrote Django in the first place.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Top reviews from other countries
A. Auckland
Should be called "Hit the ground running"
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2009
Erik Ritter
leider sind FAchbücher schnell veraltet wie dieses hier
Reviewed in Germany on December 29, 2016