Ask HN: Why Python Django framework has so little references? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why Python Django framework has so little references?

8 pointssarmike3113 comments

I recently used the documentations of both Django and RoR to build initial small projects for both in order to get a feel for each of these two monoliths. However, Ruby on Rails seems to have some extremely solid references including Airbnb, Twitch and others, why hasn't Django been updated to showcase, for example, how OpenSea uses Django for their marketplace? For such a reference-driven person like me, even when everything points for me personally to continue learning Django, this lack of references is putting me off. What are your thoughts on this?

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The better question is why does RoR have references? The answer being that it is lead by a BDFL who is a showman and marketer. That is instilled into the RoR community, and why its homepage is a marketing site.

Django has always be slightly more understated in how it presents itself, and that also comes through it is community.

Neither approach is better than the other, they are just different.

My thought is that being "reference-driven" is kinda weird and not a good way of evaluating technology.

I agree, but I'm just so much looking to get inspired by some other major well-known projects in order to imagine and see all the possibilities that for me personally I think it's kind of important.

Backend frameworks are fairly interchangeable, the possibilities don't change based on what the site you are looking at is built in.

Instagram is built with Django.

there's a lot of business that's purely word of mouth so I'd imagine people think it applies to everything else too

I feel like listed references for a product/project (especially an already established one) and "word of mouth" direct recommendations are very different things.

Are you talking about something in the official documentation that says, "Here are big companies built with Django"?

That kind of page really needs to be kept up to date on a regular basis, by someone who cares to keep track of that kind of information. Most people who help maintain Django care more to spend their time building and maintaining the project than keeping up with what specific companies are doing. It also brings in a lot of potential conflict around implied endorsements, or associations. I'm quite happy not to sea anything associated with NFTs on official Django sites.

If you're curious to know where Django is used, it's not hard to search. Here's a recent post about popular sites that were started on Django, and there are many more posts similar to this: https://djangostars.com/blog/10-popular-sites-made-on-django...

Not an exact answer to your question, but there are many projects and companies that use django. One site that highlights it is "Built with Django" [1].

[1]: https://builtwithdjango.com

Because our industry is largely driven by trends, and as somebody already wrote, "it [RoR, ndr] is lead by a BDFL who is a showman and marketer. That is instilled into the RoR community, and why its homepage is a marketing site".

What's wrong with the Django docs? I think they are decent.

IMO, the design difference between Ruby and Python sites have a lot to do with the people involved. David Heinemeier Hansson's early design and marketing sensibilities and effort on Rails initially IMO had a lot of influence on the entire Rails ecosystem. I don't know if he's still involved in designing the RoR site or not, but it still looks and feels like his work. For all of Guido van Rossum's great ideas and skills, I don't think he ever cared about design and marketing to that same extent as DHH did.

Every time I start thinking of using RoR for something, I see something written by the dhh guy and I'm like nah.

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