Learn Web Development with Python Get hands-on with Python Programming and Django web development Fabrizio Romano Gastón C. Hillar Arun Ravindran BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI Learn Web Development with Python Copyright © 2018 Packt Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews. Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book. Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information. First published: December 2018 Production reference: 1201218 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK. ISBN 978-1-78995-329-9 www.packtpub.com mapt.io Mapt is an online digital library that gives you full access to over 5,000 books and videos, as well as industry leading tools to help you plan your personal development and advance your career. For more information, please visit our website. Why subscribe? Spend less time learning and more time coding with practical eBooks and Videos from over 4,000 industry professionals Improve your learning with Skill Plans built especially for you Get a free eBook or video every month Mapt is fully searchable Copy and paste, print, and bookmark content Packt.com Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at www.packt.com and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy. Get in touch with us at [email protected] for more details. At www.packt.com, you can also read a collection of free technical articles, sign up for a range of free newsletters, and receive exclusive discounts and offers on Packt books and eBooks. Contributors About the authors Fabrizio Romano was born in Italy in 1975. He holds a master's degree in computer science engineering from the University of Padova. He is also a certified scrum master, Reiki master and teacher, and a member of CNHC. He moved to London in 2011 to work for companies such as Glasses Direct, and TBG/Sprinklr. He now works at Sohonet as a Principal Engineer/Team Lead. He has given talks on Teaching Python and TDD at two editions of EuroPython, and at Skillsmatter and ProgSCon, in London. I'm grateful to all those who helped me create this book. Special thanks to Dr. Naomi Ceder for writing the foreword to this edition, and to Heinrich Kruger and Julio Trigo for reviewing this volume. To my friends and family, who love me and support me every day, thank you. And to Petra Lange, for always being so lovely to me, thank you. Gaston C. Hillar is Italian and has been working with computers since he was eight years old. Gaston has a bachelor's degree in computer science (graduated with honors) and an MBA. He is an independent consultant, a freelance author, and a speaker. He has been a senior contributing editor at Dr. Dobb's and has written more than a hundred articles on software development topics. He has received the prestigious Intel® Black Belt Software Developer award eight times. He lives with his wife, Vanesa, and his two sons, Kevin and Brandon. At the time of writing this book, I was fortunate to work with an excellent team at Packt, whose contributions vastly improved the presentation of this book. Reshma Raman allowed me to provide her ideas to write a book dedicated to RESTful Web Services development with Django and Python, and I jumped into the exciting project. Aditi Gour helped me realize my vision for this book and provided many sensible suggestions regarding the text, the format, and the flow. The reader will notice her great work. It′s been great working with Reshma on another project and I can't wait to work with Reshma and Aditi again. I would like to thank my technical reviewers and proofreaders, for their thorough reviews and insightful comments. I was able to incorporate some of the knowledge and wisdom they have gained in their many years in the software development industry. This book was possible because they gave valuable feedback. The entire process of writing a book requires a huge number of lonely hours. I wouldn't be able to write an entire book without dedicating some time to play soccer against my sons, Kevin and Brandon, and my nephew, Nicolas. Of course, I never won a match. However, I did score a few goals. Of course, I'm talking about real-life soccer, but I must also add virtual soccer when the weather didn't allow us to kick a real-life ball. Arun Ravindran is an avid speaker and blogger who has been tinkering with Django since 2007 for projects ranging from intranet applications to social networks. He is a long-time open source enthusiast and Python developer. His articles and screencasts have been invaluable to the rapidly growing Django community. He is currently a developer member of the Django Software Foundation. Arun is also a movie buff and loves graphic novels and comics. To my wife, Vidya, for her constant support and encouragement. To my daughter, Kavya, who showed understanding beyond her age when her dad was devoted to writing. To my son, Nihar, who is almost as old as the first edition of this book. A big thanks to all the wonderful people at Packt Publishing who helped in the creation of the first and second editions of this book. Truly appreciate the honest reviews the wonderful technical reviewer. Sincere thanks to the author Anil Menon for his inputs on the SuperBook storyline. I express my unending appreciation of the entire Django and Python community for being open, friendly and incredibly collaborative. Without their hard work and generosity, we would not have the great tools and knowledge that we depend on everyday. Last but not the least, special thanks to my family and friends who have always been there to support me. About the reviewers Heinrich Kruger was born in South Africa in 1981. He obtained a bachelor's degree with honors from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa in 2005 and a master's degree in computer science from Utrecht University in the Netherlands in 2008. He worked as a research assistant at Utrecht University from 2009 until 2013 and has been working as a professional software developer developer since 2014. He has been using Python for personal and projects and in his studies since 2004, and professionally since 2014. Julio Vicente Trigo Guijarro is a computer science engineer with over a decade of experience in software development. He completed his studies at the University of Alicante, Spain, in 2007 and moved to London in 2010. He has been using Python since 2012 and currently works as a senior software developer and team lead at Sohonet, developing real-time collaboration applications for the media industry. He is also a certified ScrumMaster and was one of the technical reviewers of the first edition of this book. I would like to thank my parents for their love, good advice, and continuous support. I would also like to thank all the friends I have met along the way, who enriched my life, for keeping up my motivation, and make me progress. Norbert Mate is a web developer who started his career back in 2008. His first programming language as a professional web development was PHP, and then he moved on to JavaScript/node.js and Python/Django/Django REST framework. He is passionate about software architecture, design patterns, and clean code. Antoni Aloy is a computer engineer graduated from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). He has been working with Python since 1999 and with Django since its early releases. In 2009, he founded APSL (apsl.net), a development and IT company based in Mallorca (Spain), in which Python and Django are the backbone of the software development department. He is also a founding member of the Python España Association and promotes the use of Python and Django through workshops and articles. I would like to thank my family, coworkers, and the amazing Python and Django community. Packt is searching for authors like you If you're interested in becoming an author for Packt, please visit authors.packtpub.com and apply today. We have worked with thousands of developers and tech professionals, just like you, to help them share their insight with the global tech community. You can make a general application, apply for a specific hot topic that we are recruiting an author for, or submit your own idea. Table of Contents Preface 1 Chapter 1: A Gentle Introduction to Python 10 A proper introduction 12 Enter the Python 14 About Python 14 Portability 14 Coherence 15 Developer productivity 15 An extensive library 15 Software quality 16 Software integration 16 Satisfaction and enjoyment 16 What are the drawbacks? 16 Who is using Python today? 17 Setting up the environment 18 Python 2 versus Python 3 18 Installing Python 19 Setting up the Python interpreter 20 About virtualenv 22 Your first virtual environment 23 Your friend, the console