review on django book vs django tutorial

Question

going through both the django book and tutorial, am a bit confused to the differences in approach (aren't they both written by the same people?)

can anyone who has experience in both give a short review on them? i have decent python skills (largely untested though), but no experience at all in web apps and am trying to decide which one to stick to. i briefly looked in to practical django projects but that was a bit too complicated for me, my background is primarily bash scripting, the python i know i learned from an instant hacking tutorial and diving into python.

Answer 1

As a course of action I'd suggest:

1. Getting started (Django docs) - this consists of an overview plus a four step process to create a web application. Stick with this. Implement it.

2. Basically that's it. Now you know, which parts of the framework are clear to you, and which are still fuzzy. Pick a topic, e.g. model queries or template inheritance. Read about them in both the django docs and in the django book.

3. Now that you feel a little more confident, start your own app. Once you run into issues (and you will), both the django docs and the book will be helpful. Your questions will be more specific, the documentation, which might seem a little cryptic in the beginning, will (hopefully) just give you the right answer (at least it was my impression most of the time).

In my experience the django docs and the django book are excellent sources, which I consult, when I run into an issue. I'd also suggest, that you check out this page for some django tips:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged?tagnames=django&sort=votes&pagesize=50

Note: Django is RAD-y framework. You can start building apps really fast and you'll have small turnaround times. This means that you'll also discover your weaker spots faster, which in turn will help you to gain experience at a higher pace.

Note II: I witnessed experienced Java developers writing their first django app within hours after they discovered it (even without an extensive knowledge of python). Their weak spots were mainly the project directory layout, deployment and a certain adherence to Java idioms, which just don't look good in python.

Answer 2

Stick with the Django tutorial. The djangobook project seems to have stalled - version 1 is written for Django 0.96, and version 2, which is to support Django 1.0, is STILL a work in progress.

I do highly recommend Practical Django Projects, once you've gotten a good handle on the basics. It is full of real-world examples and best practices.