Modern Django & Django REST Framework Complete Roadmap

Getting Started

Installation & Setup

• Setup Django with Docker Compose
• Django Project Structure Best Practices
• Virtual Environment Setup

Request-Response Cycle

Understanding the fundamental architecture of Django's HTTP handling:

• Django Request-Response Cycle
• Complete Django Tutorial

Core Django Concepts

Settings & Configuration Management

Django settings file is a Python module with module-level variables containing all configuration:

Key Configuration Areas:

• ALLOWED_HOSTS - Security configuration
• DATABASES - Database connections
• DEBUG - Development vs production mode
• INSTALLED_APPS - Application registry
• MIDDLEWARE - Request processing pipeline
• SECRET_KEY - Cryptographic signing
• TEMPLATES - Template engine configuration
• STATIC_ROOT & STATIC_URL - Static files
• MEDIA_ROOT & MEDIA_URL - User uploads
• TIME_ZONE - Timezone configuration

Environment-Based Configuration:

• Django Settings Best Practices
• Environment Variables with python-decouple
• Multiple settings files (dev, staging, production)

Models & ORM (Object Relational Mapping)

Model Fundamentals

A model is the single, definitive source of information about your data:

• Quick Example
• Using Models
• Fields
• Meta options
• Model attributes
• Model Methods

Model Relationships

• Foreign Keys - One-to-many relationships
• Many-to-Many - Many-to-many relationships
• One-to-One - One-to-one relationships
• Related Name - Reverse relationship naming

Database Queries & QuerySets

QuerySet Evaluation

Methods that return new QuerySets:

• filter() - Filter records
• exclude() - Exclude records
• annotate() - Add calculated fields
• order_by() - Sort results
• distinct() - Remove duplicates
• values() - Return dictionaries
• values_list() - Return tuples
• select_related() - Join related tables
• prefetch_related() - Prefetch related objects

Methods that execute queries:

• get() - Get single object
• create() - Create new object
• get_or_create() - Get or create object
• update_or_create() - Update or create
• bulk_create() - Create multiple objects
• bulk_update() - Update multiple objects
• count() - Count objects
• exists() - Check existence
• first() - Get first object
• last() - Get last object

Field Lookups:

• Field Lookups Reference
• Common lookups: exact, iexact, contains, icontains, in, gt, gte, lt, lte, startswith, endswith, range, date, year, month, day, isnull

Query Performance Optimization

• select_related vs prefetch_related
• Database query optimization
• Using only() and defer()

Custom Managers

• Managers Documentation
• Custom QuerySets and Managers
• Adding extra manager methods

Database Migrations

Migrations propagate model changes to your database schema:

• Migration Commands
• Migration Workflow
• Version Control
• Migration Dependencies
• Migration Files
• Reversing Migrations
• Squashing Migrations
• Handling Migration Conflicts

Advanced Migration Topics:

• Data migrations
• Custom migration operations
• Database-specific migrations
• Zero-downtime migrations

Django Admin Interface

Django provides a customizable admin interface out of the box:

Basic Admin Registration:

• The Register Decorator
• ModelAdmin Classes

ModelAdmin Customization Options:

• exclude - Hide fields
• fieldsets - Group fields
• form - Custom forms
• list_display - List view columns
• list_filter - Filter sidebar
• list_select_related - Optimize queries
• search_fields - Search functionality
• ordering - Default ordering

Inline Administration:

• InlineModelAdmin
• TabularInline and StackedInline
• Working with Foreign Keys
• Many-to-Many Inlines

Admin Performance Optimization:

• Prefetch Foreign Keys
• Prefetch Many-to-Many

Custom Management Commands

Create CLI commands for maintenance and automation:

• Writing Custom Commands
• Command structure and argument parsing
• Scheduling and automation integration

Middleware

Request/response processing pipeline:

• Middleware Documentation
• Writing custom middleware
• Security middleware
• Performance middleware

URL Configuration

• URL Dispatcher
• URL patterns and regex
• Named URLs and namespacing
• Include patterns for app organization

Views & Templates

• Function-Based Views
• Class-Based Views
• Template System
• Context processors and template tags

Forms (Optional—not used in REST based setups)

• Working with Forms
• ModelForms and form validation
• Form rendering and customization

User Management & Authentication

• Authentication System
• Custom User models
• User profiles and permissions
• Password management

File Handling

• File Uploads
• Static files configuration
• Media files handling
• File storage backends

Signals

Django's signal dispatcher for decoupled applications:

• Signals Overview

Common Signals:

• pre_init - Before model init
• post_init - After model init
• pre_save - Before model save
• post_save - After model save
• pre_delete - Before model delete
• post_delete - After model delete
• m2m_changed - Many-to-many changes

Aggregations

• Aggregation Documentation
• Count, Sum, Avg, Max, Min
• Group by operations
• Complex aggregations

Localization (i18n) (Optional-not used for REST setups)

• Internationalization
• Translation and localization
• Multiple language support
• Date, time, and number formatting

Django REST Framework

Getting Started with DRF

Complete tutorial series covering all essential concepts:

• Part 1: Serialization
• Part 2: Requests and Responses
• Part 3: Class-Based Views
• Part 4: Authentication & Permissions
• Part 5: Relationships & Hyperlinked APIs
• Part 6: ViewSets & Routers

Serializers

Transform data between complex types and Python datatypes:

Core Serializer Concepts:

• Serializers Overview
• ModelSerializer
• Field validation and custom validation
• Nested serialization
• SerializerMethodField for computed fields

Advanced Serialization:

• Custom serializer fields
• Dynamic serializers
• Serializer inheritance
• Write-only and read-only fields
• Validation best practices

ViewSets & Views

Organize API endpoints efficiently:

ViewSet Types:

• ViewSets Overview
• ModelViewSet - Full CRUD operations
• ReadOnlyModelViewSet - Read-only operations
• Generic ViewSets - Custom combinations

Generic Views:

• ListAPIView, CreateAPIView, RetrieveAPIView
• UpdateAPIView, DestroyAPIView
• ListCreateAPIView, RetrieveUpdateAPIView
• RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView

Custom Actions:

• @action decorator for custom endpoints
• Detail vs list actions
• Custom routing

Authentication

Secure your API endpoints:

Authentication Classes:

• Authentication Overview
• Token Authentication
• Session Authentication
• Basic Authentication

Advanced Authentication:

• JWT Authentication (with djangorestframework-simplejwt)
• OAuth2 integration
• Custom authentication classes
• Multi-authentication support

Permissions

Control access to your API:

Built-in Permissions:

• Permissions Overview
• IsAuthenticated, IsAuthenticatedOrReadOnly
• IsAdminUser, DjangoModelPermissions
• DjangoObjectPermissions

Custom Permissions:

• Writing custom permission classes
• Object-level permissions
• Permission composition
• Dynamic permissions

Filtering, Searching & Ordering

Make your APIs more flexible:

Built-in Filtering:

• Filtering Overview
• DjangoFilterBackend with django-filter
• SearchFilter for text search
• OrderingFilter for sorting

Advanced Filtering:

• Custom filter classes
• Multiple filter backends
• Filter validation
• Complex query filtering

Pagination

Handle large datasets efficiently:

Pagination Styles:

• Pagination Overview
• PageNumberPagination
• LimitOffsetPagination
• CursorPagination for performance

Custom Pagination:

• Custom pagination classes
• Pagination metadata
• Frontend integration patterns

Routers

Automatic URL routing for ViewSets:

Router Types:

• Routers Overview
• DefaultRouter with trailing slashes
• SimpleRouter without API root
• Custom routers for specific needs

URL Patterns:

• Nested routing
• Custom action URLs
• API versioning with routers

API Versioning

Manage API changes over time:

• Versioning Overview
• URL path versioning
• Header versioning
• Accept header versioning

Error Handling

Provide consistent error responses:

• Exception Handling
• Custom exception classes
• Global exception handling
• Validation error formatting

Content Negotiation

Support multiple response formats:

• Content Negotiation
• JSON, XML, and custom renderers
• Content-Type handling
• Accept header processing

Testing Framework

Django Testing Fundamentals

Comprehensive testing approach for Django applications:

Test Structure:

• Testing Overview
• Writing Tests
• Test discovery and organization
• Test database setup and teardown

Test Types

Unit Tests:

• TestCase Classes
• Model testing with Django TestCase
• Isolated component testing
• Fast test execution

Integration Tests:

• Testing model relationships
• View integration testing
• End-to-end workflow testing
• Database transaction testing

API Testing:

• Testing REST APIs
• APITestCase for DRF
• Authentication in tests
• Response validation

Test Fixtures & Data

Manage test data efficiently:

Fixture Types:

• Fixtures Documentation
• JSON fixtures for static data
• YAML fixtures (more readable)
• SQL fixtures for complex data

Dynamic Test Data:

• Factory Boy for model factories
• Faker for realistic fake data
• Model Mommy/Model Bakery alternatives
• SetUp and tearDown methods

Database Management:

• TransactionTestCase for transaction testing
• Database flushing strategies
• Test database optimization
• Parallel test execution

Mocking & Patching

Isolate units under test:

Mock Strategies:

• unittest.mock integration
• Patching external dependencies
• Mock return values and side effects
• Assert mock calls and arguments

Common Mock Patterns:

• Mocking database queries
• Mocking external API calls
• Mocking file system operations
• Mocking email sending
• Mocking time and datetime

Django-Specific Mocking:

• Mocking Django settings
• Mocking request objects
• Mocking authentication
• Mocking signals

Test Utilities & Helpers

Django Test Client:

• Test Client for view testing
• GET, POST, PUT, DELETE requests
• Session and authentication testing
• File upload testing

Assertion Helpers:

• Custom assertion methods
• Response content assertions
• Database state assertions
• Email and message assertions

Test Organization:

• Test mixins for reusable functionality
• Base test classes
• Test utilities module
• Test settings configuration

Performance Testing

Ensure your application performs well:

Database Query Testing:

• assertNumQueries
• Query count optimization
• N+1 query detection
• Database performance profiling

Load Testing:

• Integration with locust or artillery
• API endpoint performance
• Concurrent user simulation
• Response time monitoring

Test Coverage

Measure and improve test coverage:

Coverage Tools:

• Coverage.py integration
• HTML coverage reports
• Branch coverage analysis
• Coverage thresholds

Coverage Best Practices:

• Meaningful coverage metrics
• Testing critical paths
• Edge case coverage
• Regression test strategies

Continuous Integration

Automate your testing pipeline:

CI Setup:

• GitHub Actions for Django
• Docker-based testing
• Multiple Python/Django versions
• Database service setup

Quality Gates:

• Test coverage requirements
• Code quality checks
• Security scanning
• Performance benchmarks

Asynchronous Django

Django Channels

Real-time communication with WebSockets:

Core Concepts:

• Introduction to Channels
• ASGI vs WSGI
• WebSockets vs HTTP comparison
• WebSocket Basics

Channels Components:

• Consumers - WebSocket handlers
• Channel layers for message passing
• Routing for WebSocket URLs
• Installation Guide
• Complete Tutorial

Celery Integration

Asynchronous task processing:

Architecture:

• Celery Overview
• Broker, Workers, and Result Backend
• Django Integration

Task Management:

• @shared_task decorator
• Task execution methods (delay, apply_async)
• Task signatures
• Task chains
• Immutable signatures

Periodic Tasks:

• Celery Beat scheduler
• Beat schedule entries
• Crontab scheduling

Third-Party Integrations

Database Configuration

Modern database setup and optimization:

PostgreSQL Integration:

• psycopg2 vs psycopg3
• Connection pooling
• Database optimization
• PostGIS for geographic data

MySQL Integration:

• mysqlclient configuration
• Character set and collation
• Performance tuning
• Full-text search

CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing)

Enable cross-origin requests:

• django-cors-headers
• CORS policy configuration
• Preflight request handling
• Security considerations

API Documentation

Auto-generate comprehensive API docs:

Swagger/OpenAPI:

• drf-spectacular for OpenAPI 3
• Schema generation
• Interactive API documentation
• Custom schema extensions

Alternative Documentation:

• django-rest-swagger (legacy)
• Custom documentation generation
• API versioning in docs

Email Integration

Configure email sending:

Email Backends:

• SMTP configuration
• SendGrid integration
• Amazon SES setup
• Development email backends

Email Features:

• HTML email templates
• Attachment handling
• Email queuing with Celery
• Email testing strategies

Caching

Improve application performance:

Cache Backends:

• Redis configuration
• Memcached setup
• Database caching
• Local memory caching

Caching Strategies:

• Template fragment caching
• View-level caching
• ORM query caching
• API response caching

Logging & Monitoring

Track application behavior:

Logging Configuration:

• Django Logging
• Structured logging
• Log aggregation
• Error tracking with Sentry

Monitoring Tools:

• Application performance monitoring
• Database query monitoring
• API endpoint monitoring
• Health check endpoints

Security & Best Practices

Security Fundamentals

Protect your Django application:

Built-in Security:

• CSRF protection
• SQL injection prevention
• XSS protection
• Clickjacking protection

Security Headers:

• HTTPS enforcement
• Security middleware
• Content Security Policy
• HSTS configuration

Authentication Security:

• Password policies
• Two-factor authentication
• Rate limiting
• Session security

Performance Optimization

Optimize your application:

Database Optimization:

• Query optimization
• Index management
• Connection pooling
• Database profiling

Caching Strategies:

• Application-level caching
• Database query caching
• Static file caching
• CDN integration

Code Optimization:

• Profiling tools
• Memory usage optimization
• Async view support
• Background task optimization

Deployment & DevOps

Deploy your application:

Deployment Strategies:

• Docker containerization
• Environment configuration
• Static file serving
• Database migrations in production

Monitoring & Logging:

• Application monitoring
• Error tracking
• Performance monitoring
• Log aggregation

Advanced Architecture Patterns

App Structure & Organization

Scale your Django project:

Modular App Design:

• App responsibility separation
• Inter-app communication
• Shared utilities
• Plugin architecture

Project Structure:

• Settings organization
• URL configuration patterns
• Template organization
• Static files structure

Custom Exceptions

Implement robust error handling:

Exception Hierarchy:

• Custom exception classes
• Business logic exceptions
• API error responses
• Exception middleware

Design Patterns

Apply common Django patterns:

Model Patterns:

• Abstract base classes
• Model mixins
• Manager patterns
• Custom field types

View Patterns:

• Generic view customization
• Mixin composition
• Decorator patterns
• Context processor patterns

Additional Resources

Community Packages

Essential third-party packages:

Development Tools:

• django-debug-toolbar
• django-extensions
• ipdb for debugging

Admin Enhancements:

• django-admin-interface
• django-grappelli
• django-jet

API Tools:

• drf-extensions
• django-filter
• drf-yasg

Utilities:

• django-environ
• django-model-utils
• django-guardian for object permissions

Learning Resources

Continue your Django journey:

Documentation:

• Official Django documentation
• Django REST Framework documentation
• Django packages directory

Books & Tutorials:

• Two Scoops of Django
• Django for Professionals
• Real Python Django tutorials

Community:

• Django Discord community
• Django forums
• DjangoCon conferences

Advanced Django Topics

Custom Management Commands

Create CLI commands for maintenance and automation:

• Writing Custom Commands
• Command structure and argument parsing

Custom Middleware

Request/response processing pipeline:

• Middleware Documentation
• Writing custom middleware

Advanced Model Techniques

• Custom model managers
• Model inheritance patterns
• Custom field types
• Database constraints

Advanced Serialization

• Custom serializer fields
• Dynamic serializers
• Nested serialization patterns
• Performance optimization

API Documentation

Auto-generate API documentation:

• drf-spectacular for OpenAPI 3
• Schema generation
• Interactive API documentation

Background Tasks

Asynchronous task processing:

• Celery Overview
• Django Integration
• Task management and scheduling

Real-time Features

WebSocket integration:

• Django Channels
• WebSocket consumers
• Real-time notifications

Project Examples

Blog Platform

Core Features:

• User authentication and profiles
• Post creation and editing
• Comment system
• Category and tag management
• Search functionality

E-commerce API

Core Features:

• Product catalog management
• Shopping cart functionality
• Order processing
• Payment integration
• User reviews and ratings

Social Media API

Core Features:

• User profiles and authentication
• Post creation and sharing
• Follow/unfollow system
• Like and comment functionality
• News feed generation

Task Management System

Core Features:

• Project and task organization
• User collaboration
• File attachments
• Progress tracking
• Notification system

Comments

[Vaishnav Ghenge]

Thanks for motivation