startproject and startapp

Every Django site begins with two commands: startproject creates the config shell; startapp creates a feature module you plug into the project.

Creating a project

django-admin startproject mysite
cd mysite
python manage.py startapp blog

Typical layout

mysite/
  manage.py              # CLI entry point
  mysite/
    __init__.py
    settings.py          # configuration
    urls.py              # root URLconf
    wsgi.py              # deployment entry
  blog/
    models.py
    views.py
    urls.py
    admin.py
    migrations/

Register the app

Add 'blog.apps.BlogConfig' (or 'blog') to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py, then wire URLs with include().

Important interview questions and answers

1. Q: Project vs app?
   A: Project is the whole site configuration; apps are reusable modules (blog, accounts) that can live in multiple projects.
2. Q: What does manage.py do?
   A: Sets DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE and delegates to Django's command-line utility—runserver, migrate, shell, etc.
3. Q: Can you rename an app later?
   A: Possible but painful—migrations and imports break; choose names carefully upfront.

Self-check

1. Which command creates manage.py?
2. Where do you register a new app?