Most of web applications have their own database. A database is a collection of data. This is a place in which you will store all information about users, all your blog post texts, etc..

We will be using a PostgreSQL database to store our data. It would be easier to use a default Django database called *sqlite*, but it's not good for production use (by *production* we mean: real, running websites). If you want to have your application available in the Internet, not only on your computer, you will need PostgreSQL.

PostgreSQL is recommending to install it using a program you can find here: http://www.enterprisedb.com/products-services-training/pgdownload#windows

Choose a newest version available for your operating system. Download this Installer, run it and then follow the instructions available here: http://www.postgresqltutorial.com/install-postgresql/. Take note of the installation directory, you will need it in the next step (most likely it will be `C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.3`).

The easiest way is to download a free [Postgres.app](http://postgresapp.com/) and install it like any other application on your operating system.

Go ahead, download it, drag to the Applications folder and run by double clicking. That's it!

Of course, installation depends on Linux distribution. We've added most popular ones, but if you can't find yours, [here are all the tutorials](https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Detailed_installation_guides#General_Linux).

Go to your console and run a following command:

Now we need to create our database user and our first database. You can add many databases in PostgreSQL, so if you have more than one website, you should have a separate database for each one!

If you're using Windows, there is a little bit more we need to do. For now you don't need to understand these steps, but feel free to ask your coach if you're curious!

2. Type the following `setx PATH "%PATH%;C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.3\bin"` (you can also paste things into the Command Prompt by right clicking and selecting `Paste`). Make sure that the path is the same as you noted during installation with `\bin` added at the end. You should see the message `SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.`.

3. Close the Command Prompt and it open again.

First, let's make our console into postgres mode by typing `psql`. Remember the part about console?

Our `$` now changed into `#`, it means that we're now giving commands to PostgreSQL. Let's create a user:

Of course, replace `name` with your own name. Remember that you should not use diacritic letters and whitespaces, i.e. `bożena maria` is invalid! You need to transform it into `bozena_maria`.

Remember to replace `name` with the name you've chosen (i.e. `bozena_maria`).

Awesome! All ready!

Before we will install Django, we will make you install something very, very handy and useful, that will help you keeping everything tidy on your computer. It is possible to skip this step, but we think, that you should start with the best setup possible to save a lot of troubles in the future!

That's why, we want you to create a Virtual environment (also called `virtualenv`). It will isolate things you do from your computer, so you will have everything important in one place. Neat, right?

All you need to do is finding a folder in which you want to create the `virtualenv`, for example your home directory. In Windows it could look like: `C:\Users\Name\` (where `Name` is a name of the user).

To create a new `virtualenv` you need to open the console (we already told you how to open it, remember?) and type there `C:\Python\python -m venv blog`. It will look like this:

where `C:\Python34\python` is folder in which you previously installed Python and `blog` is a name of your `virtualenv`. You can use any other name, but stick to lowercase and use no spaces. It is also good idea to keep the name short :).

Creating `virtualenv` in both Linux and OS X is as simple as typing in console (remember, that we expect that you have python 3.4 installed):

The command above will create a folder `blog` that contains our virtual environment (basically bunch of folders and files). All we want to do now is starting it by:

for Windows users, or:

for OS X and Linux.

so the prefix `(blog)` appears!

Ok, we have all important things in place. We can finally install Django!

Now, when you have your `virtualenv` started, you can install Django using PIP. In console you type `pip install django==1.6.5`.

On Windows, you will probably have to replace the first line with

or

depending on whether you have 32 or 64 bit Windows.

Once it's completed execute `python -c "import psycopg2"`. If you get no errors, everything works.

That's it! Now you are finally ready to create a Django application! But to do that, you need some nice program to edit the code...