Let's Learn Django #1 Init
Tags: webdev, beginners, django, python
Published: 2023-06-14 14:38:22

This is a blog series about Django from the very basics

## Installing & initialising a project

Django is a really powerful Python-based web framework with the philosophy `batteries included`. It means it gives you everything you need to build a full-stack web application. Django's Tag line is `The web framework for perfectionists with deadlines`. It's because it allows you to create professional-grade web apps very quickly.

However, learning it may seem a bit complex, but believe me, it is not. And to help with that, I'm writing this blog series.

So let's start from the very basics, installation & initialising a project

## Installation

Installing Django is pretty straightforward. You just need to use pip to install Django. However, it's always recommended to use a virtual environment for a project. So we will start by creating a virtual environment.

```shell
python -m venv venv
```

This will create a virtual environment in the `venv` folder. To use this environment, we need to activate it. Activating it is different in Windows, Linux & MacOS.

Bash Shell (Linux)

```bash
source ./venv/bin/activate
```

Fish Shell (Linux)

```bash
source ./venv/bin/activate.fish
```

CMD (Windows)

```
venv\Scripts\activate.bat
```

Powershell (Windows)

```
venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
```

MacOS

```bash
source ./venv/bin/activate
```

After activating the virtual environment, we can install Django using pip.

```bash
pip install Django
```

Of this, we have successfully installed Django on our systems. So what are we waiting for? Let's start a project

## Initialising a project

To start a project, we will use the `django-admin` command. It will help us generate the boilerplate code.

```bash
django-admin startproject <projectname>
```

For eg.

```bash
django-admin startproject triviaquiz
```

This will generate a boilerplate code for you. It will include a lot of files like manage.py, settings.py, models.py, urls.py etc.

Now to organise our code, we divide our Django web app into several smaller sub-apps. To create a sub-app, we will again use the `django-admin` command.

```bash
django-admin startapp <app_name>
```

For eg.

```bash
django-admin startapp quiz
```

This will create a new folder with several other files like models.py, views.py, admin.py etc.  
You can try exploring all these files yourself as Django provides comments in the boilerplate code for easy understanding.  
However, I will also explain each of them in detail in my next blog.

## Running the project

To run the project, we will use the following command:  

```bash
python manage.py runserver
```

This will start the server with your project at [http://127.0.0.1:8000](http://127.0.0.1:8000).  
And by going to this url, you will a default Django page like this:


![Default Django home page](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/vo60vvqsv450wnb431nl.png)



If you are seeing this, then congrats, you have successfully set up & started your project.  
  
In the next blog, I will explain all the different Django files in detail. Stay Tuned  
  
Follow my journey on Twitter: [@notnotrachit](https://twitter.com/notnotrachit)