A BEGINNER-FIRST DJANGO BOOK

Build a community.
Learn Django.

From the first requirement to a working community platform. Learn through Otahque, one idea, one example and one chapter at a time.

By Sumit S Chawla

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2 chapters available / 75-chapter learning path

Otahque book illustration: Django from first principles to production, with a connected community on the cover.

THE LEARNING PATH

Read the available chapters and latest draft sections below. Draft chapters grow as new sections are added; planned chapters are not yet available.

CHAPTER 01Otahque: the problem and the peopleRead chapter →
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CHAPTER 02Business requirements, product scope, and user storiesRead draft →
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- 2.1 Needs and agreed outcomes
CHAPTER 03How the web worksPlanned
CHAPTER 04Python readiness and development toolsPlanned
CHAPTER 05Django’s role and our first architecture decisionPlanned
CHAPTER 06Creating the project and understanding its filesPlanned
CHAPTER 07Django apps and application boundariesPlanned
CHAPTER 08Settings, environments, dependencies, and GitPlanned
CHAPTER 09URLs and routingPlanned
CHAPTER 10Function-based views and request/response objectsPlanned
CHAPTER 11Templates, context, and escapingPlanned
CHAPTER 12Template inheritance, includes, and partialsPlanned
CHAPTER 13Static files and CSS fundamentalsPlanned
CHAPTER 14Tailwind, daisyUI, and Otahque’s design systemPlanned
CHAPTER 15Relational databases and our first ERDPlanned
CHAPTER 16Django models and field choicesPlanned
CHAPTER 17Choosing and creating our user modelPlanned
CHAPTER 18Migrations and schema evolutionPlanned
CHAPTER 19ORM fundamentalsPlanned
CHAPTER 20Relationships between modelsPlanned
CHAPTER 21Validation, constraints, and data integrityPlanned
CHAPTER 22QuerySets, managers, and query compositionPlanned
CHAPTER 23Django admin fundamentalsPlanned
CHAPTER 24Django formsPlanned
CHAPTER 25ModelForms and the validation lifecyclePlanned
CHAPTER 26Event creation, editing, and publicationPlanned
CHAPTER 27Authentication and account workflowsPlanned
CHAPTER 28Cookies, sessions, and messagesPlanned
CHAPTER 29Password management and reset emailsPlanned
CHAPTER 30Permissions, ownership, and rolesPlanned
CHAPTER 31Event registration and cancellationPlanned
CHAPTER 32Moving to PostgreSQLPlanned
CHAPTER 33Transactions, concurrency, and the last available seatPlanned
CHAPTER 34Testing fundamentals and first-release acceptancePlanned
CHAPTER 35Class-based views and dispatchPlanned
CHAPTER 36Generic display views and paginationPlanned
CHAPTER 37Generic editing views and access mixinsPlanned
CHAPTER 38Advanced admin and formsetsPlanned
CHAPTER 39Middleware and context processorsPlanned
CHAPTER 40Signals, application lifecycle, and system checksPlanned
CHAPTER 41Management commands and data import/exportPlanned
CHAPTER 42File uploads and storagePlanned
CHAPTER 43Email delivery and templatesPlanned
CHAPTER 44Background tasks, scheduling, and retriesPlanned
CHAPTER 45HTMX and progressive enhancementPlanned
CHAPTER 46Waitlists, check-in, and registration state transitionsPlanned
CHAPTER 47API design and HTTP contractsPlanned
CHAPTER 48DRF serializers and validationPlanned
CHAPTER 49API views, generic views, viewsets, and routersPlanned
CHAPTER 50API authentication and permissionsPlanned
CHAPTER 51Filtering, pagination, throttling, and API documentationPlanned
CHAPTER 52Webhooks and reliable external integrationsPlanned
CHAPTER 53Async Django, ASGI, and sync/async boundariesPlanned
CHAPTER 54Channels and real-time updatesPlanned
CHAPTER 55Advanced ORM and database expressionsPlanned
CHAPTER 56Search, indexes, and query plansPlanned
CHAPTER 57Caching and application performancePlanned
CHAPTER 58Advanced testing and failure scenariosPlanned
CHAPTER 59Security review, threat modelling, and hardeningPlanned
CHAPTER 60Preventing web and API attacksPlanned
CHAPTER 61Accessibility, localization, timezones, and discoverabilityPlanned
CHAPTER 62Production architecture and DockerPlanned
CHAPTER 63Deployment, static/media delivery, and HTTPSPlanned
CHAPTER 64CI/CD, safe migrations, and rollbackPlanned
CHAPTER 65Logging, monitoring, backups, and recoveryPlanned
CHAPTER 66Load testing, capacity planning, and scaling decisionsPlanned
CHAPTER 67Multi-community requirements and tenancy alternativesPlanned
CHAPTER 68Implementing and testing tenant isolationPlanned
CHAPTER 69Billing, subscriptions, and entitlementsPlanned
CHAPTER 70Volunteer management and organizer planningPlanned
CHAPTER 71Teams, hackathon submissions, and judgingPlanned
CHAPTER 72Job board, reusable content, and moderationPlanned
CHAPTER 73Adding an AI feature safelyPlanned
CHAPTER 74AI guardrails and adversarial testingPlanned
CHAPTER 75Final product review, UI refinement, upgrades, and maintenancePlanned

Build a community.Learn Django.

Contents

Build a community.
Learn Django.