If at some point you peeked over at my reading list on the right rail of this blog, you’ll have noticed that I’m currently engaged in learning the Django web development framework for Python (with invaluable help from some talented folks). To that end, I subscribed to the This Week in Django blog, where I just stumbled upon what promises to be an excellent series of screencasts for beginner’s using Django.
What separates these screencasts from, say, the Django book, is that they also delve into important stuff like setting up a version control system and creating a proper development environment. So if you’re leaping into the Django fray, make sure to keep an eye on these screencasts.
[This Week in Django: Django From the Ground Up: Episodes 1 & 2]
By Sharon September 22, 2008 - 3:35 pm
Do you see specific value in Django over Ruby on Rails so far?
By Danny Sanchez September 22, 2008 - 6:56 pm
Hey Sharon, I’m going to defer to Derek Willis’ blog post on that very question because he knows waaaaaaay more about Rails and Django than I do (and probably ever will): http://blog.thescoop.org/archives/2008/06/09/the-choices/
My decision to pursue Django –after a Rails flirtation– came down to my knowing more people in the news industry who use Django. Additionally, I fell in love with Django’s admin tool, which I think is better for newsroom producers to use than Rails’ scaffolding. I personally also find Python easier to read and understand (but that’s just me).
That said, Rails is a more mature framework (Django JUST hit 1.0 status) with more apps and developers out there. It just comes down to what your needs are and what works for you.