Django's primary goal is to ease the creation of complex, database-driven websites. The framework emphasizes reusability and "pluggability" of components, less code, low coupling, rapid development, and the principle of don't repeat yourself.[8] Python is used throughout, even for settings, files, and data models. Django also provides an optional administrative create, read, update and delete interface that is generated dynamically through introspection and configured via admin models.
Django was created in the autumn of 2003, when the web programmers at the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper, Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison, began using Python to build applications. Jacob Kaplan-Moss was hired early in Django's development shortly before Willison's internship ended.[15] It was released publicly under a BSD license in July 2005. The framework was named after guitarist Django Reinhardt.[16] Holovaty is a Romani jazz guitar player inspired in part by Reinhardt's music.[17]
In June 2008, it was announced that a newly formed Django Software Foundation (DSF) would maintain Django in the future.[18]
Features
Components
Screenshot of the Django admin interface for modifying a user account
Django's configuration system allows third party code to be plugged into a regular project, provided that it follows the reusable app[21] conventions. More than 5000 packages[22] are available to extend the framework's original behavior, providing solutions to issues the original tool didn't tackle: registration, search, API provision and consumption, CMS, etc.
This extensibility is, however, mitigated by internal components' dependencies. While the Django philosophy implies loose coupling,[23] the template filters and tags assume one engine implementation, and both the auth and admin bundled applications require the use of the internal ORM. None of these filters or bundled apps are mandatory to run a Django project, but reusable apps tend to depend on them, encouraging developers to keep using the official stack in order to benefit fully from the apps ecosystem.
The Django team will occasionally designate certain releases to be "long-term support" (LTS) releases.[26] LTS releases will get security and data loss fixes applied for a guaranteed period of time, typically 3+ years, regardless of the pace of releases afterwards.
There is a semiannual conference for Django developers and users, named "DjangoCon", that has been held since September 2008. DjangoCon is held annually in Europe, in May or June;[58] while another is held in the United States in August or September, in various cities.[59] The 2012 DjangoCon took place in Washington, D.C., from September 3 to 8. 2013 DjangoCon was held in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the post-conference Sprints were hosted at Digital Bootcamp, computer training center.[60] The 2014 DjangoCon US returned to Portland, OR from August 30 to 6 September. The 2015 DjangoCon US was held in Austin, TX from September 6 to 11 at the AT&T Executive Center. The 2016 DjangoCon US was held in Philadelphia, PA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from July 17 to 22.[61] The 2017 DjangoCon US was held in Spokane, WA;[62] in 2018 DjangoCon US was held in San Diego, CA.[63] DjangoCon US 2019 was held again in San Diego, CA from September 22 to 27. DjangoCon 2021 took place virtually and in 2022, DjangoCon US returned to San Diego from October 16 to 21. DjangoCon US 2023 was held from October 16 to 20 at the Durham, NC convention center and DjangoCon US 2024 is scheduled to return to Durham for September 22 to 27.[64][65]
Django mini-conferences are usually held every year as part of the Australian Python Conference 'PyCon AU'.[66] Previously, these mini-conferences have been held in:
Django has spawned user groups and meetups around the world, a notable group is the Django Girls organization, which began in Poland but now has had events in 91 countries.[67][68][69]
Ports to other languages
Programmers have ported Django's template engine design from Python to other languages, providing decent cross-platform support. Some of these options are more direct ports; others, though inspired by Django and retaining its concepts, take the liberty to deviate from Django's design:
^ abAdrian Holovaty, Jacob Kaplan-Moss; et al. The Django Book. Archived from the original on 2 September 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2013. Django follows this MVC pattern closely enough that it can be called an MVC framework
