So, how good are Python and Django docs?

Short answer: you will be hard pressed to find better docs.

I've read one of the typical flame bait blog posts about Rails vs Django back when I was very enthusiastic about Rails development (I won't even post the link here, because it has no educational value, whatsoever), and one of the points the author was making was lack of documentation for Django. Well, that person couldn't have been further from the truth.

 A call to license() in the IDLE's shell prompt give you not only the text of the actual license, but also a bit of Python's history.
Python's IDLE displaying the license text: A call to license() in the IDLE's shell prompt give you not only the text of the actual license, but also a bit of Python's history.

The actual situation is quite the opposite. Python is one of the best documented open-source programming languages I've ever seen. Well, it definitely matches PHP in that respect, and it is a known fact that docs were among the top priorities when the project was started.

You can get a tarball of all available docs in many different formats, or you can read them online if you prefer. Either way, you have full access, plus the convenience. The docs also include a tutorial for Python beginners, which does a great job of introducing you to most of what you'll be using every day, all packed into a 128-page PDF (or HTML, whatever you like).

Django follows the same tradition. Their docs are more than a match for Python's own docs. It doesn't give you an option of downloading the docs in another format, but the docs themselves are very complete and easy to read. As a bonus, you have an annonated Django Book to read if you want a full walkthrough, or a (currently) 4-part tutorial to get you started really quickly. The tutorial is not the kind where you only listen to how great Django is. It is a strictly pragmatic, and very detailed introduction to Django with little reference to other frameworks. At least for me, the latter tutorial was enough to get me started, and you can then browse the docs to fill the gaps. But the book is also great if you're used to books. The Django Book can also be bought at Amazon, I think.

I had a mildly bad experience with Rails-Talk as well as one of Rails forums. No such case with Django. I asked a question on Django-users and got the answer in a matter of minutes. I guess this is not a rule, but merely what I experienced, but it still made me feel a lot more comfortable with Django than I was with Rails.

So, overall, the docs and the community support is really great. If you want a framework you can safely get stuck while using it, knowing you'll get help, I think Django might be the best thing for you.

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