Clarify APIView.dispatch request lifecycle in docstring

docs/api-guide/views.md

@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ source:
 >
 > — [Reinout van Rees][cite]
 
-REST framework provides an `APIView` class, which subclasses Django's `View` class.
+REST framework provides an `APIView` class, which subclasses Django’s base `View` class.
+
 
 `APIView` classes are different from regular `View` classes in the following ways:
 
@@ -19,7 +20,9 @@ REST framework provides an `APIView` class, which subclasses Django's `View` cla
 * Any `APIException` exceptions will be caught and mediated into appropriate responses.
 * Incoming requests will be authenticated and appropriate permission and/or throttle checks will be run before dispatching the request to the handler method.
 
-Using the `APIView` class is pretty much the same as using a regular `View` class, as usual, the incoming request is dispatched to an appropriate handler method such as `.get()` or `.post()`.  Additionally, a number of attributes may be set on the class that control various aspects of the API policy.
+Using the `APIView` class is very similar to using a regular Django `View` class.  
+As usual, the incoming request is dispatched to an appropriate handler method such as `.get()` or `.post()`.
+
 
 For example:
 

rest_framework/views.py

@@ -490,9 +490,22 @@ def raise_uncaught_exception(self, exc):
     # be overridden.
     def dispatch(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
         """
-        `.dispatch()` is pretty much the same as Django's regular dispatch,
-        but with extra hooks for startup, finalize, and exception handling.
+        Dispatch the incoming request to the appropriate handler method.
+
+        This method implements the core request/response lifecycle for
+        Django REST Framework views:
+
+        1. Wraps the incoming Django HttpRequest in a REST framework Request.
+        2. Performs content negotiation, authentication, permission, and
+            throttling checks.
+        3. Resolves and calls the appropriate HTTP method handler
+            (e.g. get(), post(), put()).
+        4. Handles any exceptions raised during processing and converts
+            them into appropriate Response objects.
+        5. Finalizes and returns the response with proper rendering
+            and headers applied.
         """
+
         self.args = args
         self.kwargs = kwargs
         request = self.initialize_request(request, *args, **kwargs)