[ZDP] Starting to discuss the drafts

Tom Deprez Tom Deprez" <tom.deprez@village.uunet.be
Fri, 10 Mar 2000 00:59:29 +0100


Hi Maik,

yes, you're right. The drafts need serious updates.

Tom.
----- Original Message -----
From: Maik Roeder <roeder@berg.net>
To: <zdp@zope.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 9:49 PM
Subject: [ZDP] Starting to discuss the drafts


> Hi !
>
> I would like to discuss the draft at:
>
> http://zdp.zope.org/projects/zbook/book/I/Introduction/Drafts/v100/
>
> My comments are added in <P><PRE>maik: </PRE></P>, so it can be uploaded
> as is.
>
> Greetings,
>
> Maik Röder
>
>
> <P>Zope is a free, multi-platform, open-source, web-application platform
for building dynamic web sites.The words: 'free' and 'open-source' are most
likely returning in
> your head over and over.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: The last sentence is not needed.</PRE></P>
>
> Yes, since November 1998, Zope is a free open-source product.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: An affirmation with Yes is not necessary.</PRE></P>
>
> Be aware, I said 'since', meaning that this wasn't the case with the
previous versions. Maybe you don't find this important, but I do.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: You should not make assumptions on the readers
attitude</PRE></P>
>
> Since I started looking at Linux, I became aware of the great power of it:
being Open Source.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: Insert link to the Open Source website.</PRE></P>
>
> But also Open Source has  some draw backs. At some time, groups start at
something really great, but never finish it, because they found something
what will be bigger,
> greater then the one before. Resulting in a product that never finishes.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: Drawbacks need not be discussed</PRE></P>
>
> This isn't the case at all with Zope.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: Even more because Zope is a counter example.</PRE></P>
>
> Zope is already a finished product, it's a collection of three products:
'Bobo', 'Principia', 'Aquaduct' and some external methods.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: Maybe we should deprecate these old words and use the new
> ones. Perhaps a Glossary would be ok.</PRE></P>
>
> All of these products already have been proven in some serious cases.
>
>
> <P><PRE>maik:Needs example (Name Bobo's history)</PRE></P>
>
> Another important point, is that Digital Creations, the company which
created Zope, after much thought, decided to focus on being a consulting
company.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: Digital Creations is a consulting company, and they made
Zope
> Open Source because they wanted to make it some kind of standard
application
> which would be known for it's power, and get them new consulting
contracts. </PRE></P>
>
> They need Zope for their business and they will maintain and enhance it,
because their company relies on it. At the moment it is a relatively small
company, and all of its
> people are very helpful and responsive to problems and request from the
community.</P>
>
> <P>Besides this, it's multi-platform. Thus it can run on Linux/Intel,
Solaris (SPARC and Intel), Digital Unix, BSDI and Windows NT (and most
likely also on SGI/Irix, HP-UX,
> Windows 95/98, Mac OS, Windows CE, although not supported). Most web
application servers are tied to a specific platform and/or a specific web
server. Zope is capable of
> running on many servers, including Apache, Netscape Server, and Microsoft
IIS. It also runs on Medusa, a powerful Python-based HTTP server, which
provides web, WebDAV, and
> ftp based access to Zope, thanks to an arrangement Digital Creations made
on behalf of the community with Sam Rushing, creator of Medusa.</P>
>
> <P>I'm almost sure that I've got your full attention, so let us dig a
little bit deeper into the 'why' of Zope's creation and existence.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: It is not nice to make assumptions on the state of the
> reader.</PRE></P>
>
> As web technology advanced, and websites became more complicated, it
became increasingly obvious that once a website was created, it was hard to
maintain. This is a
> quandry, since websites, moreso than any other form of publication, are
dependent on being kept up to the minute.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: quandry is not a widely used word.</PRE></P>
>
>  In addition, connecting the web to a database in a secure manner while
not requiring a single person to know every aspect of the site, HTML, SQL
and the elements of good
> design was yet another problem to face. Web application platforms were
created to make life easier for the web-programmers. They provide a
server-based scripting language
> designed to simplify these 'difficult' tasks, and generally include
mechanisms to access databases. The current crop of web application
platforms include Cold Fusion,
> Silverstream, Netscape Application Server, Active Server Pages
(Microsoft), and more.</P>
>
> <P><PRE>maik: FOund this on Slashdot:
(http://slashdot.org/askslashdot/00/03/05/2223217.shtml)
>
> In an n-tier environment (web server, app server, database server) all the
application server really does is:
>
>               maintain a persistent pool of connections to the DB;
>               maintain state in a stateless protocol;
>               help separate application logic from display logic
>               perhaps assist in transaction load-balancing </PRE></P>
>
> <P>Zope provides a different paradigm than most of the traditional web
application platforms. When creating web sites with Zope, you work with an
integrated object
> database. Most other web application platforms use a relational database.
Although Zope uses an internal object database, Zope is capable of using
relational databases as
> resources. On contrary, Zope provides a mechanism for integrating
relational databases into its object structure. This means that you can
still use a SQL-server to provide
> your data. This is advantageous both because not all data lends itself to
being stored in an object oriented way, and because it provides access to
legacy data stored for
> other reasons, by other programs. Several modules are written for this
purpose and officially supported: Oracle, Sybase, MySQL and ODBC. It is
generally not difficult to
> implement a new module, using the source of the preexisting modules as a
template. One example of this is the PostGresSQL database module. While it
is unlikely that a
> normal user would start writing such a module, the Open Source policy
means that other people may already have written it for you. So, to
summarize, you get all the
> benefits of an object-oriented environment, and can integrate your
companie's preexisting databases easily.</P>
>
> <P>While the web interface of Zope is generally designed for content
managers, Zope has much to offer to programmers. Zope provides access to
external methods and internal
> modules which can be written in the powerful, clean Python language.
Python provides much of the advantages of Perl or Java, providing the same
easy scripting of an
> interpreted, interactive programming language like Perl, while providing
powerful objects like Java (and like Perl5 multiple inheritance), and a
syntax which enforces
> readability, so its code is always easy to understand and modify. Python
is also multi-platform, free, and open source.
>
> <P><PRE>maik: Use the term Open Source consistently</PRE></P>
>
> Zope itself is largely written in Python, and so inherits the clean
readability and easily modified code inherent in all Python programs. (A few
components of Zope are
> written in C for performance reasons.) But because of Zope's internal
server-side scripting language, DTML (Document Template Markup Language) it
is not necessary to know
> Python to create sophisticated websites using Zope.</P>
>
> <P>Given the above, it seems clear that Zope can at least be put on a
level with the other common web application platforms, and in some areas,
rises above them, because it
> provides a new metaphor for creating web sites.
>
>
> <P><PRE>maik: Don't write "it seems clear". Zope can compete with other
application servers, and has many features that make it unique among
them.</PRE></P>
>
>  Zope's unique python based object database provides powerful benefits,
although some might see it as a drawback, since it requires a new way of
looking at traditional
> problems and tasks. Of course, this is only the beginning of the story,
and as we move on, we will look deeper into the world of Zope.</P>
>
> <P>To have a better understanding of the way Zope is, you need to know
some basic things about the evolution of the web and it's web applications.
>
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