The Django Book is done.
The Django Book started shipping last week, and we've put the full text online for free.
We put a draft of the book up about a year ago for comments, and were amazed by the quality (and quantity!) of responses. We read each of the comments (around 2500) as we revised the book towards a final print release. That print release has been available in stores for about a week, and we've put the text up for you to read for free.
As with the draft, we're soliciting comments which we'll use as we continue to revise the online text. We're also collecting errata from the print edition if you notice mistakes there.
We're immensely grateful to everyone who helped make this book happen.
Thanks also to Media Temple: we're now hosting the book site on machine they donated to the project a few months ago. Thanks, guys -- you rock!
PS: If you're not seeing the new book, it's probably because the DNS change hasn't propagated yet. Try new.djangobook.com in the meantime.
Posted by Jacob on December 16, 2007
Comments
Chris D December 16, 2007 at 12:49 p.m.
Fantastic! Congrats guys!
It'd be cool to host an old version of the book - with all of the comments - for all the people who might be curious how the experiment of taking User Feedback worked out.
(Stupendously, if you ask me.)
Daniel December 16, 2007 at 12:55 p.m.
Nice! I already ordered a book, but it's still on its way to Europe. Thanks, for the effort to publish it free, online.
Arpan December 16, 2007 at 1:08 p.m.
I was just browsing Apress a couple days back and saw that the Django book was released. I'd been waiting for the book for a long time, and bought it immediately. I wondered why there was no announcement on this site. I guess you were waiting to have the djangobook site ready.
Anyway, excellent job. I've gone thought a about half of the book already.
Marat R December 16, 2007 at 1:21 p.m.
Hi! Where I can download single-file version (html or pdf)?
topfunky December 16, 2007 at 1:46 p.m.
I'm primarily a Rails developer but got the book on Friday and have thoroughly enjoyed it.
It manages to cover the basics and move to more advanced topics smoothly. Highly recommended.
Thiago Alves December 16, 2007 at 1:49 p.m.
You can't. You should buy the PDF on Apress site. Its only U$ 10.00 last time I checked, so, consider buy it.
Jacob December 16, 2007 at 3:23 p.m.
@Mike: oops, that was a bug on my part; fixed.
@Chris: the previous version of the book still is available; you just have to know where to look: http://www.djangobook.com/en/beta/
@Marat: there's not a "downloadable" version. You can always print it to PDF in your browser or just spider the HTML. We might release one in the future, but it kinda defeats the purpose of releasing the book online in the first place (i.e. the ease of keeping it updated).
Simon Willison December 16, 2007 at 3:55 p.m.
Amazon sold out in just a couple of days - I think they've had new stock in now though. It could definitely do with some customer reviews...
Moses Ting December 16, 2007 at 4:22 p.m.
Good job guys! I pre-ordered the book and I can't wait to go through it.
Paul Smith December 16, 2007 at 5:41 p.m.
Congrats on a job well done, Jacob and Adrian!
jane December 16, 2007 at 7:26 p.m.
Very happily saw “dajngobook” renewed,
kevin December 16, 2007 at 9:03 p.m.
great move! I ordered the book already myself, but having the online version will be great for the existing community and newcomers alike. congrats again!
Empty December 16, 2007 at 9:25 p.m.
Awesome. Congratulations. It looks great. Have my copy of the print version on the way.
Jaakko December 17, 2007 at 2:16 a.m.
Congratulations! I have already ordered my copy and waiting in excitement :) Hopefully the book will also help boost the development of Django itself and help it towards 1.0!
Placid December 17, 2007 at 4:58 a.m.
Awesome, another book to add to my collection (I don't mind paying)!
Congrats!
Josh December 17, 2007 at 12:42 p.m.
Thank you so much! Django rocks!
snirp yor December 17, 2007 at 4:28 p.m.
Very nice indeed! Will it soon be available through other channels as well? For example at bol.com...
kevinski December 17, 2007 at 5:34 p.m.
I've been using Django for over a year now, and just the first 4 chapters have filled in several tremendous gaps. Really glad I purchased it, shows me how little I really know. Not so friendly to Windows folks, but neither am I. ;) Keep up the great work!
dimitri December 17, 2007 at 5:59 p.m.
I received the book today (the Netherlands). Thanks!
Gloomy December 19, 2007 at 3:30 a.m.
I just ordered it! I can't wait! Great job!
stephen wolff December 19, 2007 at 5:39 a.m.
excellent stuff. how about a search function for the online book? ah, just thought, i suppose i could use site:www.djangobook.com searchterm in google...
Sam December 19, 2007 at 9:03 a.m.
I've just done a dirty copy-and-paste job using Word, fixed the ToC and other formatting issues, then saved it as a PDF if anyone wants it - http://driveactivated.com/files/ftpup...
It sure has made me appreciate the enormous amount of effort that went into it - the PDF is over 400 pages! Two thumbs up guys - will be playing around with Django over the holidays.
If there's any objection to making the book available for download as a PDF, let me know and I'll take it down.
Mogga December 20, 2007 at 9:20 a.m.
You should mention that the book is available from apress as an eBook as well. I've been reading it everyday on the train and it's great to have on my development machine.
anonymous December 24, 2007 at 10:48 a.m.
Great job guys, congrats!
In my opinion only a thing is missing: ajax integration.
I think would be useful a clean and "official" way to integrate dojo or mootools ecc..
rulfzid December 25, 2007 at 1:28 a.m.
Great job on the book - it really looks great so far.
I was a little sad to see the exercises at the end of the chapters go - the ones that were in the old online version really helped me review/solidify some concepts, and I was looking forward to similar exercises for other chapters.
I know I could use some structured practice (being a relative newcomer to this web programming stuff).
usul December 29, 2007 at 12:52 p.m.
@Sam
nice job on the pdf, perfect for me.
TuOki^ December 31, 2007 at 5:14 a.m.
Thanks for the book, it has been great asset for amateur developers (like me).
Gianni December 31, 2007 at 7:01 a.m.
Considering that the django book is freely available to browse online I think the PDF version should cost max 10-15 dollars. Unfortunately on the Apress site the eBook Price is $22.50 while Amazon charges just $29 for the paper book. Misteries of the market...
Adrian Holovaty December 31, 2007 at 10:32 a.m.
Thanks for your feedback, Gianni. Alas, we don't set the prices. Lucky for you, you can read the book online for free.
Gianni January 1, 2008 at 5:44 a.m.
Hi Adrian, thanks for your reply. I'm currently reading the paper version. I'm new to Python so I'm reading a Python intro book at the same time (Learning Python). English is not my native language but I have not problem with your prose. In my opinion the djangobook will set new standards for excellence in tech literature. I really appreciate the fact this gem is fully available and constantly updated online. However the next time you write a book you should sell to a publisher only the rights for the paper version and reserve to you the online and ebook (PDF) rights. Just my 2 cents.
Daniel January 1, 2008 at 10:03 a.m.
Happy New Year guys !!! I wish you all the best and happiness in the new year, and I hope that you will continue the wonderful work on the Django project.
Kevin January 2, 2008 at 12:33 p.m.
I've ordered a printed copy and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival. I have noticed a problem with the online version. When I view it, or try to print parts of it, most of the code samples are at least partially truncated. I have to resort to cutting/pasting the text to see all of it.
Albert January 4, 2008 at 10:07 a.m.
Just arrived from Amazon: wonderful book! Thanks
Kane January 6, 2008 at 4:11 a.m.
It is great that there is a free online version. It really help the spread of Django.
The truncation of the code samples is quite serious, but we can decrease the text size in order to view all the code.
Don't slow down the development~ :) Django rocks!
Ralph F. January 7, 2008 at 3:12 a.m.
Really good book! I'm reading the free online version and I will soon receive the paper book from Amazon. I'd like to buy a PDF version from Apress for offline reading: they sell many ebooks at $10,00 (http://www.apress.com/info/dailydeal) but the django-ebook is priced at $22,50. As another commenter has already noted, $10,00 is a more reasonable price for the PDF of a book which is freely available online. Apress should slash the price and give a $10,00 coupon to customers who have already purchased the ebook at full price.
dimitri January 15, 2008 at 5:04 p.m.
I have written a short article about the book. You can read it here: http://www.serpia.org/blog/2008/jan/1... .
Tim January 18, 2008 at 12:16 p.m.
Bought mine at the Borders in Mission Valley(San Diego, CA).
It keeps me company on the toilet.
Will R. February 3, 2008 at 9:39 p.m.
Great piece of work.
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Mike December 16, 2007 at 12:36 p.m.
The new.djangobook.com URL doesn't really help; the intro page is fine, but relative links from it break (FF/Safari).
Not sure what's going on there; 'www' looks fine from here, though.