Learning Links #1

1. Recommendations on how to deploy Django [Hacker News thread]

General consensus:
– virtualenv + pip + requirements files for environment creation
– nginx for serving static files
– gunicorn or Apache/mod_wsgi for web server
– Fabric for automated deployment
– Separate local and base settings files
– Git or Mercurial for DVCS
– South for database migrations

Also learned that there are startups like Djangy that are aiming to be a Platform-as-a-Service for Python/Django applications, much like Heroku for Ruby! Definitely will have to follow this as I imagine it makes deployment and scaling a breeze, especially if sysadmin stuff is not a strong suit.

2. Scaling the world’s largest Django application (Disqus) [DjangoCon 2010]

The content is admittedly over my head, but isn’t it great that the guys at Disqus are willing to let you take a peek under the hood?

3. How to design a good API and why does it matter [Slides at Examville]

Will pack this away to page through later.