Author Description

While I hope this book will eventually serve as a good reference for you, I didn't write it with that intention in mind. It is a "course" on Django. The idea is for you to start at the beginning and work your way through to the end.This is a Django book for Python developers. The better you know Python, the easier it will be to learn Django. Conversely, one of the great things about learning Django is that it will help you improve your Python skills. The Django framework is written beautifully and you have full access to the source code. We encourage you to dig into that code to see why things work the way they do and to learn how you can customize your site to work exactly how you want it to work.Django is magical. That magic makes it easy to to get started quickly. But it also can make it easy to get a little (or a lot) confused about how things happen. And when something goes wrong, it can be hard to figure out why. I don't promise that learning Django will always be easy. Some parts are pretty easy, and some parts are pretty hard. Be patient with yourself. Pretend you're the teacher as well as the student. When the student fails, the good teacher doesn't insult or chastise. The good teacher encourages. The good teacher knows that failure is a part of learning, and that overcoming failure is exciting and leads to more learning. So, be a good teacher and treat yourself well.But be a good student too. When reading this book, you should be sitting at your computer. When you first begin, plan to spend at least two uninterrupted hours. You should do your best to get through the Getting Started with Django lesson in the first sitting. Go through the book slowly and methodically. Read every demo carefully. Work through every exercise. You cannot learn to code through reading alone. You must practice.