DJango for large-scale e-commerce: A good or bad choice?

[Alec Taylor]

Good afternoon,

I'm looking at all the notable CMSs and web-frameworks across any
language (C++, Ruby, Python, Perl, .NET, PHP), for an e-commerce
solution which suits my project.

Basically I'm creating an e-commerce store of e-commerce stores. So
for all e-commerce stores integrated with this system, there is a
shared user database and shopping cart integrated with PayPal (but
preferably multiple payment gateways).

Would DJango be a good choice for developing this project?

i.e. are there many predone components for this kind of thing which
can be utilised to speedup development time?

Also, is DJango scalable enough for a system of this sort, or should I
pick a competitor?

Thanks for all suggestions,

Alec Taylor

[Carlos Leite]

> I'm looking at all the notable CMSs and web-frameworks across any
> language (C++, Ruby, Python, Perl, .NET, PHP), for an e-commerce
> solution which suits my project.

Which language are most comfortable ?
Python is great, easy, elegant, and even for non hard programmers, its
easy to maintain.

> Basically I'm creating an e-commerce store of e-commerce stores. So
> for all e-commerce stores integrated with this system, there is a
> shared user database and shopping cart integrated with PayPal (but
> preferably multiple payment gateways).
> Would DJango be a good choice for developing this project?

Django is very Pythonic. I mean, Django keeps all characteristics from
the Python language.
if you know Python, you don't have to "learn" the framework.
when you try a new web framework you always have to learn something,
but with django its not that hard !

> i.e. are there many predone components for this kind of thing which
> can be utilised to speedup development time?

A simple user register app can be made in 30 minutes in django or less.
My experience says, that the harder part of a good public application
is to build a good user interface and look and feel (js ). MY
EXPERIENCE!
Django will not interfere on it !

Have you hear about http://www.satchmoproject.com/ ? its a complete store
may be its useful -
http://www.packtpub.com/article/setting-up-complete-django-ecommerce-store-30-minutes
and you will find more apps here: http://djangopackages.com/ and at
github... litle apps to improve usability to your application.
and lots of other apps to improve development speed. and a great community!

> Also, is DJango scalable enough for a system of this sort, or should I
> pick a competitor?

Django has different ways to cache , that has been improved since
version 0.96 (or earlier)
Its very possible one of those will meet your needs.
and then, look for a good server (nginx may be a choice) , to work
with python. you have some options! :)

---------------------------------
Cadu Leite

[Russell Keith-Magee]

On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Alec Taylor <alec.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good afternoon,
>
> I'm looking at all the notable CMSs and web-frameworks across any
> language (C++, Ruby, Python, Perl, .NET, PHP), for an e-commerce
> solution which suits my project.
>
> Basically I'm creating an e-commerce store of e-commerce stores. So
> for all e-commerce stores integrated with this system, there is a
> shared user database and shopping cart integrated with PayPal (but
> preferably multiple payment gateways).
>
> Would DJango be a good choice for developing this project?

If you're building a user-facing, database backed website, Django
should meet your requirements.

> i.e. are there many predone components for this kind of thing which
> can be utilised to speedup development time?

Yes, there are. If you'd like an indication of the ecosystem of apps
and plugins that are available, look at:

http://djangopackages.com/packages/p/opencomparison/

This isn't a 100% comprehensive list (i.e., it's worth doing other
searches), but it is fairly extensive.

> Also, is DJango scalable enough for a system of this sort, or should I
> pick a competitor?

The decision to use Django won't be what stops your site from scaling.
For example, Mozilla and Disqus both use Django, and their sites
handle millions of requests a day. The ability of a site to scale has
a lot more to do with database design, caching choices, and so on.
Django gives you the tools to make your site as scalable as you need.

Yours,
Russ Magee %-)