Update!

The third edition, Two Scoops of Django: Best Practices For Django 1.8 is available! Revised and expanded to 532 pages, it's a whole new book full of new material. Please consider it before purchasing this edition!

http://www.amazon.com/Two-Scoops-Django-Best-Practices/dp/0981467342

Two Scoops of Django: Best Practices For Django 1.5 is chock-full of material that will help you with your Django projects.

We'll introduce you to various tips, tricks, patterns, code snippets, and techniques that we've picked up over the years.

We have put thousands of hours into writing and revising its 300+ pages of concise, example-packed text.

What is everyone saying about Two Scoops of Django?

• “A single read-through of Two Scoops of Django gave me so many lightbulbs and tips; I had to go back for a second helping.” -- Lynn Root, Red Hat engineer and PyLadies ambassador.
• Ha ha, I learned something in the first chapter. Awesome. -- Zed Shaw, Author of Learn Python the Hard Way.
• Two Scoops should provide some food for thought and usable recommendations for anybody using Django regularly. -- Malcolm Tredinnick, Django Core Contributor
• Make sure you have your favorite project next to you while reading. You'll be doing some rewriting. -- Bryan Veloso, GitHubber, PyCon PH Keynote Speaker
• If I could time travel, the first thing I'd do would be give my younger self a copy of this book, and make him read it. -- Randall Degges, Passionate Python Hacker
• You know those lessons you learn when projects blow up in your face? This book contains several projects worth of such lessons. -- Lennart Regebro, author of "Porting to Python 3"
• This book should prove to be an amazing resource for any new-to-Django developer that picks it up. -- Kenneth Love, Creator of "Getting Started with Django"
• No matter what your skill level is, Two Scoops has solid tips for everyone. -- Jeff Triplett, Developer at Revsys
• This is the book I wished had existed and I could have read when I started learning Django. -- Barry Morrison, Linux systems engineer and Django developer
• Two Scoops of Django is by far the best Django book I've read. -- Ben Beecher on Twitter
• Are there any negatives? Well yes. Only one: I wish I've read it earlier! -- Branko Vukelic

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Coding Conventions
• Chapter 2: The Optimal Django Environment Setup
• Chapter 3: How To Lay Out Django Projects
• Chapter 4: Fundamentals of Django App Design
• Chapter 5: Settings and Requirements Files
• Chapter 6: Database/Model Best Practices
• Chapter 7: Function-and Class-Based Views
• Chapter 8: Best Practices for Class Based Views
• Chapter 9: Common Patterns for Forms
• Chapter 10: More Things To Know About Forms
• Chapter 11: Building REST APIs in Django
• Chapter 12: Templates: Best Practices
• Chapter 13: Template Tags and Filters
• Chapter 14: Tradeoffs of Replacing Core Components
• Chapter 15: Working With the Django Admin
• Chapter 16: Dealing with the User Model
• Chapter 17: Django's Secret Sauce: Third-Party Packages
• Chapter 18: Testing Chapter of Doom!
• Chapter 19: Documentation: Be Obsessed
• Chapter 20: Finding and Reducing Bottlenecks
• Chapter 21: Security Best Practices
• Chapter 22: Logging: Tips and Tools
• Chapter 23: Signals: Use Cases and Avoidance Techniques
• Chapter 24: What About Those Random Utilities?
• Chapter 25: Deploying Django Projects
• Chapter 26: How To Release Your Own Django Packages
• Chapter 27: Closing Thoughts
• Appendix A: Packages Mentioned In This Book
• Appendix B: Troubleshooting