Function-based vs class-based decision in Django - Hands-On Comparison

Function-based vs Class-based Views Decision in Django

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Django web app to show a list of books. You want to learn how to create views using both function-based and class-based approaches. This will help you decide which style to use in different situations.

🎯 Goal: Create a Django view that shows a list of books using a function-based view first, then add a class-based view version. Finally, configure the URL patterns to use the class-based view.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list of books as a Python list of dictionaries

Write a function-based view called book_list_function that returns an HTTP response with the book titles

Write a class-based view called BookListClass inheriting from django.views.View that returns the same response

Configure the URL pattern to use the class-based view BookListClass.as_view()

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Web developers often choose between function-based and class-based views in Django to organize their code and handle HTTP requests efficiently.

💼 Career

Understanding both view types is essential for Django developers to maintain and extend web applications professionally.

1

Create the initial data list of books

Create a Python list called books with these exact dictionaries: {'title': 'Django for Beginners'}, {'title': 'Python Crash Course'}, and {'title': 'Two Scoops of Django'}.

Django

# Create the books list with three dictionaries
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use square brackets to create a list. Each book is a dictionary with a 'title' key.

2

Write a function-based view to display book titles

Write a function called book_list_function that takes a request parameter and returns an HttpResponse with the book titles joined by commas. Use from django.http import HttpResponse.

Django

books = [
    {'title': 'Django for Beginners'},
    {'title': 'Python Crash Course'},
    {'title': 'Two Scoops of Django'}
]

from django.http import HttpResponse

# Define the function-based view
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a generator expression inside join() to get all titles from the books list.

3

Write a class-based view to display book titles

Write a class called BookListClass that inherits from django.views.View. Add a get method that takes self and request and returns an HttpResponse with the book titles joined by commas.

Django

books = [
    {'title': 'Django for Beginners'},
    {'title': 'Python Crash Course'},
    {'title': 'Two Scoops of Django'}
]

from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.views import View

# Define the class-based view
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Remember to import View from django.views. The get method handles GET requests.

4

Configure URL pattern to use the class-based view

In the urlpatterns list, add a path with the URL string '' (empty string) that uses BookListClass.as_view() as the view. Import path from django.urls.

Django

books = [
    {'title': 'Django for Beginners'},
    {'title': 'Python Crash Course'},
    {'title': 'Two Scoops of Django'}
]

from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.views import View
from django.urls import path


def book_list_function(request):
    titles = ', '.join(book['title'] for book in books)
    return HttpResponse(titles)


class BookListClass(View):
    def get(self, request):
        titles = ', '.join(book['title'] for book in books)
        return HttpResponse(titles)

urlpatterns = [
    # Add the URL pattern here
    # Your code here
]

Need a hint?

Use path with an empty string for the root URL and call as_view() on the class-based view.