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Class-Based Views are not always Class-Based Generic Views

Most people confuse Class-Based Views and Class-Based Generic Views. Their names are similar, but they are not the same things. This has led to some interesting misconceptions as follows:

  • The only generic views are the ones bundled with Django: Thankfully, this is wrong. There is no special magic in the generic class-based views that are provided. You are free to roll your own set of generic class-based views. You can also use a third-party library such as django-vanilla-views.org which has a simpler implementation of the standard generic views. Remember that using custom generic views might make your code unfamiliar to others.

  • Class-based views must always derive from a generic view: Again, there is nothing magical about the generic view classes. Though, 90 percent of the time, you will find a generic class such as View to be ideal for use as a base class, you are free to implement similar features yourself.

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