Django To-Do App First Impressions: Module 1 at AI Dev Tools Zoomcamp
I decided to join AI DevTools Zoomcamp and was genuinely curious what I'd be able to build.
In the first module of the course, we build a TODO app using the Django framework.
Side note: I knew nothing about Django before starting the course.
For someone who doesn't come from a classic software engineering background, AI tools lower the barrier in a useful way. They don't replace understanding, but they do make it easier to build something, inspect it, and learn by doing.
It took about 10 minutes for Cursor to scaffold a working Django TODO app. I followed the homework instructions, asked the AI to build the project, and then tried to understand what it had actually put together.
While the model was generating code, I tried to reverse-engineer what it was doing:
- Django app structure
- Component connections
- File responsibilities
That alone was a great learning experience.
Then I started experimenting a bit more and made a very pink pixel-style version with a calendar view and repeated tasks.
It definitely needs work: the font is hard to read and repeating events don't actually repeat yet. But it was a useful way to see how far I could push the interface while still learning the basics.
I'm still not sure whether this counts as "building" it or "watching it get built," but for a first pass, both were useful.
You can find the code for the simple version on my GitHub.