Rapid Prototyping & Proof of Concepts: Django is all we need

Abstract

In this modern day and age, 2 things are for certain:

1. Time-to-market for our products & features matters.
2. We can easily drown in complexity and be carried away by over-engineering.

Having the ability to rapidly develop prototypes and proof of concepts is very powerful, because we can iterate towards the right thing, with code.

We know that we can use Django for building mature & long-lasting applications.

But what about building rapid prototypes and proof of concepts?

In this talk, we’ll show that Django can do that job, reliably, as well.

We’ll look at what Django & the rich 3rd party ecosystem has to offer us, when it comes to building rapid prototypes.

We’ll focus on topics like:

1. How to approach rapid prototyping with the correct mindset.
2. Being quick with Django models.
3. Realizing that types can be our friends.
4. Realizing that Django admin may be all the UI we need (at least, in the beginning).
5. Using HTMX where it makes sense.
6. Components in Django templates are a good idea.

The talk will be practical & pragmatic, with the aim to provide good examples, derived from experience, that’ll highlight the main topics and ideas.

The talk is great for both beginners, as well as seasoned Django developers.

The final goal is to give clear evidence, supported by examples, that we can use Django, reliably, to rapidly build prototypes & proof of concepts.

It turns out that Django is all we need.