Full Stack Web Development with Django

The picture that stops you guessing later.

• Request and response
  What happens between typing an address and seeing a page.
• HTML that describes meaning hands on
  Semantic structure, forms and accessibility that costs nothing.
• CSS layout that holds hands on
  Flexbox and grid, built rather than nudged into place.
• Mobile first hands on
  A mid-range Android on a patchy connection is the real target.

The language, aimed at web work.

• Core language, quickly hands on
  Types, functions, comprehensions, error handling.
• Virtual environments and dependencies hands on
  Why it works on your machine and nowhere else.
• Objects and structure hands on
  Organising code that will outgrow one file.
• Testing with pytest hands on
  Writing the test that would have caught the bug you just fixed.

Batteries included, and what each battery is for.

• Projects, apps, URLs and views hands on
  The request lifecycle followed end to end.
• Models and the ORM hands on
  Migrations, relationships, and the N+1 query that quietly ruins performance.
• Templates and forms hands on
  Server-rendered pages and validation that happens on the server.
• The admin, and its limits hands on
  An enormous free head start, and when to stop leaning on it.
• Authentication and permissions hands on
  Who someone is versus what they may do - and the bug where changing an id in the URL reads another user's record.
• Django REST Framework hands on
  Serving an API for a front end or a mobile app.

PostgreSQL, and querying with intent.

• Schema design hands on
  Keys, indexes, and the cost of getting the shape wrong.
• SQL beyond the ORM hands on
  Reading and writing raw queries when the ORM is the wrong tool.
• Migrations in a team hands on
  Conflicting migrations, and resolving them without data loss.
• Backups and restores hands on
  Restoring one, not merely taking one.

Enough JavaScript to finish the job.

• JavaScript essentials hands on
  DOM, events, fetch, and the three states of every request.
• HTMX and progressive enhancement hands on
  Interactivity without a full front-end framework - often the right call.
• Talking to your own API hands on
  Loading, error and empty states handled properly.
• Static files and assets hands on
  Collecting, compressing and serving them.

Live, and still live next month.

• Git in a team hands on
  Branches, pull requests, review, and resolving a conflict calmly.
• Deploying to a VPS hands on
  Gunicorn, nginx, HTTPS and a process manager.
• Environment config and secrets hands on
  Keys that never enter git, and what to do the day one leaks.
• Logging, monitoring and rollback hands on
  Knowing it broke before the client rings, and being able to undo it.

Before you start

• Python Programming, or equivalent
  You should already be writing working Python.
• Free: Web Development Basics
  HTML and CSS are assumed from week one.

Where it leads

• Advanced Python
  Depth in the language itself.
• Machine Learning
  For those heading into data work.

Roles this prepares you for

• Junior Django Developer
  Backend and full-stack web work.
• Backend Developer
  APIs behind web and mobile products.
• Freelance Web Developer
  Requires the business skills taught in the Freelancing course as well.

Interested in this programme?

Try the subject free first — there is no reason to pay before you know you like it.