1 | Django Tutorial, Introduction

Setup and Prerequisites for Django Development
📌 The session focuses on the practical setup for developing a Django project, following initial theoretical explanations from the previous session.
⚙️ PyCharm is identified as the preferred powerful IDE for Django coding because it significantly simplifies the development process.
🐍 Before starting, users must download the latest stable version of Python (recommended version $\ge 3.7$) from python.org.

Creating the Django Project in PyCharm
💻 The process involves selecting the Django option when creating a New Project in PyCharm, rather than using command-line installations for a cleaner setup.
📂 PyCharm automatically sets up a Virtual Environment (venv), which isolates project dependencies, preventing conflicts with other projects.
💡 When naming the project, ensure you add a backslash (`\`) followed by the project name (e.g., `project_name`) in the location path, and PyCharm handles the creation of the environment folder (default name is `venv`).
✅ Successfully running the project defaults to a server running on localhost:8000 or 127.0.0.1:8000, displaying the default Django welcome page.

Understanding Initial Project Structure
📂 The initial project directory contains several files; the `venv` folder (Virtual Environment) should generally be ignored during core development work.
⚙️ The `settings.py` file is crucial for configuring language, timezone, and managing application registrations within the project.
⚠️ The `DEBUG = True` setting is important during development; it must be changed when deploying the project to a live server for security reasons.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ Use PyCharm for Django development to leverage its features that streamline coding and environment management.
➡️ Virtual Environments (venv) are essential for isolating project dependencies, ensuring clean management and easy transferability of projects.
➡️ Upon initial run, the default Django page confirms successful setup, accessible via `http://127.0.0.1:8000`.
➡️ Remember to change `DEBUG = True` to `False` before deploying the Django application to production servers.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Feb 13, 2026, 16:23 UTC