# Django: Getting Started

In this series, we are going to create a random motivational quotes generator using Django. This is a beginner-friendly series, so you don't have to have any prior knowledge of Django. Oh, by the way, it's pronounced [JANG-OH](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/faq/general/#what-does-django-mean-and-how-do-you-pronounce-it), you're welcome. ;)


> Disclaimer: I am not a Django expert. I am learning Django by doing & sharing articles like this. The code I write here might not be great, but I welcome your suggestions/feedback.

### What is Django

Django is a web framework written in python with batteries included. It gives us several functionalities out of the box, such as user authentication, admin panel, etc.


### Setup


Once you have python3 and pip installed, fire up the Terminal (on Mac/Linux) or command prompt (on windows) in a fresh new directory, say, quotesgen and let's get started.

- virtualenv is a very helpful python module to build isolated environments. Let's begin by creating our virtualenv called venv for this project.

      python3 -m venv venv

- Let's activate it now.

      source venv/bin/activate

-  The terminal/command prompt should look something like this once the virtualenv is activated.
![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1621111927126/VeLV1x2yC.png)

- Install Django

      pip install -U django


### My first Django app

Now that we have everything set up, we can start implementing our first ever Django application.

Let's start by creating a new Django project using `django-admin`.  [django-admin](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/ref/django-admin/)  is a command-line utility that comes packaged with Django, it has several utilities to simplify the development; we'll learn about each of them as we progress into the course.

Just run the following command to create a django project called `quotesgen`.

```
django-admin startproject quotesgen .
```

This creates a `manage.py` file and a directory `quotesgen` with a bunch of files inside it. Overall, the directory structure should look something like this:

```
quotesgen
├── manage.py
└── quotesgen
    ├── __init__.py
    ├── asgi.py
    ├── settings.py
    ├── urls.py
    └── wsgi.py

```

Now let's go through each file generated.

- `manage.py`: this file allows us to run commands such as making migrations, running the server, etc. We'll learn more about it soon.
- `quotesgen/__init__.py`: Django generates a directory with the same name as our project name & a  [empty `__init__.py`](https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/modules.html#packages)  file is created in it to indicate that it's a python package.
`quotesgen/settings.py`: `settings.py` holds the entire project's configuration, including DB credentials, security keys, etc.
- `quotesgen/urls.py`: `urls.py` file contains URL routes & mapping to appropriate packages.
- `quotesgen/wsgi.py` & `quotesgen/asgi.py`: Both wsgi.py & asgi.py act as an interface for our web server. A default configuration is added to help us get started quickly.


### Testing it out

Unlike other frameworks, we don't need to write any code to run the Django application. Django comes with a basic webpage built-in; we, simply need to run a command to view it.

To start the server, we need run:

```
python manage.py runserver
```

This will start the webserver & we should see a message saying `Starting development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/`

Now, go ahead & open the URL  [http://127.0.0.1:8000](http://127.0.0.1:8000/) on your browser, and we should see a standard django template like this

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1621168429575/0HxDPmEKh.png)


Congratulations on setting up your first django app. 🎉 That's it for today, and in the second part of this series, we'll learn to create a new app, setting up custom URL routes, writing & reading from the database.


Thanks for reading. .


PS: This is my first time writing a blog, any feedback/suggestions towards improvement is *really* appreciated.