I've recently spent some time playing with Django. In a previous post, I mentioned that I'd post some thoughts on how Django compares with Ruby on Rails.

Both frameworks alllow for RAD style development. Each include tools that allow the developer to focus on writing code that is directly related to the domain and not to underlying infrastructure. Without a doubt, both frameworks provide a leg up.

Both frameworks follow a MVC approach. With Rails, this is very obvious - there are models, views and controllers. Django does not use exactly the same terminology, but ultimately also uses an MVC approach. Django has the concept of models. The slight deviation, however, comes with views and controllers. What Django terms views are actually (at least in my opinion) controllers (or methods of a controller). The Django equivalent to a Rails view is called a template. This is the place where the html goes.

In terms of models, both frameworks make use of the the Active Record pattern. Django models are slightly more verbose than Rails models, but also contain far less 'magic' due to the nature of the Python language. In some respects, this is good. It's certainly easier to understand a Django model than it is an Rails model - at least in cases where the model is complex.

There are definitely some differences, though. While Rails is an opinionated framework that highlights convention over configuration, Django is much more about choice. Many components of the Django stack are modular. Don't want to use Django models? Build your own (although you'll have to write your own data access layer as well). Don't want to use the built in Django template system? Use a different one. In some ways, I like the Rails approach. It's sort of nice to not have the choice. At the same time, in some cases it's nice to have alternatives. 

The templating 'views' systems of each framework are also different, but not in the way you might think. Ultimately, both get translated into pure html. The main difference is that in ERB (in Rails), Ruby code is actually executed and any arbitrary Ruby code can be placed within the template. With Django, no Python code is present within a template. There are control structures called tags and transformers called filters that serve similar purposes. Not a big deal, but something to get used to.

Lastly, I noted that there is a big difference between the two frameworks where things like view helpers are considered. Rails has more than enough helpers (link_to, link_to_remote, etc), while Django lets the developer or designer use pure html. I'm not sure yet how I feel about not having helpers. In a way I like it. I feel like I have more control. I also think it makes it easier for designers if they are the folks writing the views. On the other hand, Rails' helpers sure are handy.

Anyway, that wraps it up for now. This is a pretty high-level comparison, I realize. I'll likely expand on it in the future.