Django Features and Libraries

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/django-features-libraries

Introduction

### Course Review: Django Features and Libraries on Coursera #### Overview If you're looking to deepen your understanding of web development using Django, the course **Django Features and Libraries** on Coursera is an outstanding choice. This course provides a structured approach to building robust Django-based web applications, catering to the needs of end users. Whether you're a beginner or have some experience with Django, this course is designed to enhance your skills by introducing critical concepts such as cookies, sessions, authentication, and user interfaces. Throughout the course, you'll have the unique opportunity to develop a simple application that supports a classified ads website, enabling you to apply the knowledge you gain to real-world scenarios. #### Syllabus Breakdown The course syllabus dives into various essential components of Django, including: 1. **Cookies and Sessions**: - You will learn about the fundamental concepts of cookies and how they are utilized in web browsers. This module thoroughly explains how to set and read cookies in Django while also covering how sessions work, providing a deep understanding of state management in web applications. 2. **Users and Authentication**: - A strong focus is placed on Django’s built-in authentication and authorization systems. You will understand how to manage user accounts efficiently and even explore the flexibility of customizing the user model, which is crucial for creating tailored web applications. 3. **Django Forms**: - Forms are the backbone of user interaction in web applications. This section emphasizes Django's capabilities in managing HTML forms, allowing you to create user-friendly interfaces that facilitate data submission to the server. 4. **One to Many Data Models**: - Understanding how to design data models is essential for every web developer. This module covers the one-to-many data relationship and how to structure your database to avoid data duplication by linking multiple tables. 5. **Owned Rows**: - This concept is particularly useful for applications where data ownership drives access. You will learn to designate specific rows in a database as belonging to particular users, allowing for nuanced permission settings. 6. **Many-to-Many Models**: - The course concludes with an exploration of more complex data structures through many-to-many relationships. You will learn how to represent various data types that require flexibility and how to design your database accordingly. #### Recommendation The **Django Features and Libraries** course is highly recommended for anyone aiming to build web applications with Django. Here are a few reasons why you should consider enrolling: - **Practical Experience**: The hands-on project involving a classified ads website ensures that you'll not only learn theoretical concepts but also apply them in a practical setting. - **Comprehensive Curriculum**: The course covers an array of essential topics that are crucial for web development, making it suitable for both novices and those looking to refine their skills. - **Expert Instruction**: Coursera courses are often taught by industry professionals and academics, ensuring that you receive quality education from knowledgeable instructors. - **Flexible Learning Environment**: With online learning, you can take this course at your pace, making it easier to balance your studies with your existing commitments. In conclusion, if you're ready to unlock the potential of Django for web application development, **Django Features and Libraries** is a solid investment in your educational journey. It provides the knowledge and skills necessary to create functional and visually appealing web applications, setting you up for success in the field of web development.

Syllabus

Cookies and Sessions

We explore how cookies work in the browser and how to set and read cookies in Django. We then explore how cookies are used to support sessions in Django and how we use sessions in Django.

Django has a built in capability to create and make use of user accounts. The built-in authentication and authorization system is quite robust. More advanced applications can replace the user model with their own model as long as thy meet the requirements of the rest of Django with respect to the authentication and authorization system.

Forms are the way that web applications present users with pages that areas to be filled in and sent to the server as data. Django has extensive support to simplify how we write code to interact with HTML forms.

As we design our data models, it is important to follow normal-form and not replicate string data. We do this by using multiple tables and making link between rows of two tables. The one-to-many pattern is one technique to replace data replication using links between rows in different tables.

This module covers the important technique of marking rows in a data model as belonging to a particular user. With this information we can decide who can edit or view particular rows. We look at how we can use Django with object-oriented Python to build a reusable "owned rows" feature.

The more advanced data modeling approach to remove replication of string data is the Many-To-Many data model. Sometimes a one-to-many model is not flexible enough to represent structures like course rosters. A Many-to-many model in essence models two on-to-many relationships.