One of the characteristics of a web developer is that they’re always looking for new ways to do things. I’m no different. For the past year, I’ve primarily been using PHP to build web applications. For the most part, I don’t have any major gripes against PHP other than the syntax is inconsistent (and PEAR blows sometimes). The language I’m most comfortable with is Python, the language I learned in college.

The first book I ever used to learn Python was written by my college professor and adviser, Dr. John Zelle. The book is titled Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science and is just that – an introduction book. This book made it easy for me to learn Python as a first language and come to love it, even after using Java and PHP. Zelle describes Python as “simple, not simplistic”, which embodies the nature of Python as an easy to learn language, all the while maintaining its flexibility and power as a scripting language.

I’ve never really used Python much in a web development setting, so I’m going to give Django (pronounced JANG-oh) a try. Django is a web framework that helps developers build websites quickly and cleanly. I’m hoping my experiences are just that. I’ve already started getting Django installed and a server set up, which is usually the trickiest part. So far, so good…

If anyone has any Django-specific tips, leave them below.