Getting started with Django is an exciting step towards mastering web development. Django is a high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. It comes with a multitude of built-in features, making it an excellent choice for beginners who want to create robust web applications quickly. To embark on your Django journey, you will need to have a basic understanding of Python and a development environment set up on your machine. This includes installing Python, setting up a virtual environment, and installing Django itself using the simple command: pip install Django.

Once you have everything set up, the next step is to create your first Django project. This can be accomplished by running the command: django-admin startproject projectname. This command generates a project directory with the necessary files to get started. Within your project, you'll find the settings.py file, where you can configure your application and set up your database. To run your development server, simply navigate to your project directory in the terminal and execute: python manage.py runserver. As you dive deeper into Django, explore its robust ORM, URL routing, and templating system to build powerful web applications.

When it comes to building efficient web applications with Django, having the right tips and tricks can dramatically enhance your productivity and application performance. Here are the Top 10 Django Tips and Tricks that every developer should know:

1. Utilize Django's built-in ORM: Take full advantage of Django's Object-Relational Mapping to interact with your database efficiently without writing complex SQL queries.
2. Optimize query performance: Use select_related and prefetch_related to reduce database hits and load related objects in a single query.
3. Leverage middleware: Implement custom middleware for tasks like user authentication and request logging to keep your views clean and focused.
4. Use Django's caching framework: To improve your application's speed, cache heavy queries and pages to serve repeated requests quickly.
5. Keep your settings organized: Use different settings files for development, testing, and production environments to streamline your workflow.
6. Use environment variables: Store sensitive information like API keys and database URLs in environment variables to enhance security.
7. Make use of Django Admin: Customize the Django Admin interface to manage your data effectively, saving time on building custom admin views.
8. Version control your database migrations: Use makemigrations and migrate commands judiciously to keep track of changes in your database schema.
9. Employ Django signals: Use signals wisely to decouple your application and trigger actions based on certain events seamlessly.
10. Implement a comprehensive testing strategy: Write unit tests and integration tests to ensure the reliability of your application functionalities.

Building a RESTful API with Django is a great way to leverage the framework's powerful features for web applications. To get started, first ensure you have Django installed in your environment. You can create a new Django project using the command django-admin startproject myproject. Once your project is set up, navigate to your project directory and create a new app with python manage.py startapp myapp. After that, add your app to the INSTALLED_APPS list in the settings.py file to make sure Django recognizes it.

Next, you will need to install Django REST Framework to simplify the creation of your API. This can be done using pip install djangorestframework. After installation, update your settings.py again to include 'rest_framework' in the INSTALLED_APPS. Then, proceed to define your data models in models.py and create a serializer in serializers.py. Finally, set up your views and routes using Django's URL dispatcher to complete your RESTful API. This process not only enhances your web application but also makes it more efficient and user-friendly.