

The Django Book is getting updated  - tangue
https://github.com/jacobian/djangobook.com/ 
... but it needs help
======
fallenhitokiri
It is good to see the book is still alive.

Django is one of the best documented projects I have ever seen. But I know
people who have problems with the way the documentation is structured. For
some parts you have to understand a completely different part of the framework
to follow the documentation. This is to some degree a price you have to pay
for a complex framework and is IMHO fine.

But especially for those people is a book, which gives a structured way
through the whole framework, a great thing.

~~~
andybak
I don't think that's a problem to be solved by the core documentation - rather
it's the role that tutorials, howto's etc solve - taking you from 'what' to
'how'.

Maybe the Django docs should guide people to a few more of these before
hitting them with the authoritative docs.

~~~
thaumasiotes
A tutorial and a book solve completely different problems. A tutorial will
only help you if you know what you want to achieve, and can therefore search
for the tutorial. You read a book to find out about functionality you didn't
know was there, lest you need it in the future.

An organized approach to "here are all the things we do" is definitely
appropriate for the core documentation.

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huxley
For those looking for recent Django screencasts, Buddy Lindsey did a bunch at
this site GoDjango:

<http://godjango.com>

He covered a lot of stuff including Forms, Formsets, Social Authentication and
Generic Class Based Views.

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adrianmn
I just started learning Django(going through the tutorial today).

Is the Django Book ready to use as it is to learn Django? The Django docs I
think are not enough for someone starting out learning their first web
framework(they seem to go deep right away and don't provide a structured way
of learning).

Also are the changes done on Github published on the book website or better to
grab it directly from Github?

~~~
elithrar
> Is the Django Book ready to use as it is to learn Django? The Django docs I
> think are not enough for someone starting out learning their first web
> framework(they seem to go deep right away and don't provide a structured way
> of learning).

It's pretty outdated by now, so you'll likely spend more time checking the
differences (i.e. class based views). Same goes for Practical Django
Projects[3].

You're best off looking at some online tutorials, another Django Book[1], or
thinking of something to build and approaching it from scratch. Django's docs
are very good, and there's a lot of open source projects out there that have
likely accomplished something similar.

PS: I'm disappointed Reinout van Rees book was canned[2]

[1]: <https://github.com/mariuz/django-book> [2]:
[http://reinout.vanrees.org/weblog/2012/05/23/djangobook-
schl...](http://reinout.vanrees.org/weblog/2012/05/23/djangobook-schluss.html)
[3]: [http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Django-Projects-Experts-
Deve...](http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Django-Projects-Experts-
Development/dp/1430219386/ref=dp_ob_title_bk)

~~~
adrianmn
Thanks for the django-book updated link. This seem to be exactly the scope of
the linked github in the op.

The amazon book looks outdated and I am a bit surprised by the lack of django
1.4 learning material for newcomers to the framework as this is key for it's
popularity.

I hope the linked updated django-book will provide enough teaching to get me
up and running and be able to mainly use the django docs after.

~~~
elithrar
> The amazon book looks outdated and I am a bit surprised by the lack of
> django 1.4 learning material for newcomers to the framework as this is key
> for it's popularity.

The problem with print books is that they fall out of date so quickly. Rails
has the same problem--perhaps even more so due to the rapid development pace.

I was really looking forward to the Prag Prog Django book, as they usually
release updates and revise the eBook editions, so it's a shame the deal fell
apart.

~~~
adrianmn
Ebooks are just great when learning especially on dual screen setups. AFAK
Rails books get updated really fast - and there are at least a few good
introductory courses. There is a Django video series coming but who can wait
untill December :)

<http://gettingstartedwithdjango.com>

------
arturhoo
I wish Django and other Python Web Frameworks had a great (and updated)
tutorial as Rails has: <http://ruby.railstutorial.org/>

~~~
simonw
The Django tutorial is part of the official documentation and is kept up to
date with the rest of the framework:
<https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/intro/tutorial01/>

~~~
weaksauce
The Django tutorial just doesn't have the depth that the rails book does in my
opinion. Though, it's well written and awesome in it's own way. There is also
a lot of other well written guides on the rails main site[1]

[1] <http://rubyonrails.org/documentation>

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tomwalker
I read this book when it had side comments - they were fantastic help

~~~
kmfrk
Let's be plain: it was the only way to get the code examples to work. ;)

~~~
tomwalker
well, to put it a different way, it allowed those working through the book to
make small updates to compensate for django updates :)

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kmfrk
Kenneth Love also has a screencast series coming out soon:
[https://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2012/sep/11/dsf-
support...](https://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2012/sep/11/dsf-supports-
getting-started-django/).

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alexdzul
I'm Alex Dzul, From Mexico.

I'm Django Web Developer. I have a Youtube Channel where I explain this
framework in Spanish ( my native language)
<http://www.youtube.com/user/alexexc2>

I would like to participate in this update of the Django Book :)

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nnq
I completely dismissed the django book for being outdated when starting to
lear Django, despite people recommending it to me ...nice to know others won't
have to dismiss it the same way as some chapters seemed really well written

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elfgoh
What happened to the commenting system? I found that to be useful for
annotations

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kmfrk
This is fantastic. It was - and actually still is - the single-best resource
for learning Django. Unlike all other guides, it managed to explain _why_
Django was written the way it was.

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clicks
Will it be geared towards Django operating on Python 3? Or will that subject
be treated lightly?

~~~
huxley
Python 3 support was --last I heard-- still considered experimental/alpha by
the core team in the upcoming Django 1.5 release, so I would assume if it
treats it at all, it will be mostly to encourage forward-compatible
programming practices.

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boscomutunga
finally, i was getting tired of people recommending this old dinosaur.The
django community is active enough to contribute to this wonderful resource.

------
systems
little hype around django, but still is popular

