[Zope] <% ... %> ?

Robin Becker robin@jessikat.demon.co.uk
Fri, 11 Jun 1999 22:16:05 +0100


In article <613145F79272D211914B0020AFF6401918B084@gandalf.digicool.com>
, Chris Petrilli <petrilli@digicool.com> writes
>> here here; the current zope dtml syntax is really a nightmare. I would
>
>I don't disagree that the current syntax is quite baroque in the mode
>that it is used by many people for many projects---many times because
>there is no other option.  However...
>
>> be even more extreme and as has been suggested elsewhere 
>> would use some
>> open and close delimiters to contain arbitrary python. 
>
>Blah, no this again violates the paradigm that we are trying to push,
>which is that you keep your logic code as much out of your presentation
>code as possible. By allowing this inclusion, I think you're only
>reverting to the ASP model, which is a serious step backwards.  
>
...
I don't disagree with the expressed intention, but what I observe is
that people seem to be writing stuff which (to novices like me) is
pretty incomprehensible. I also question whether there is such a real
need for the separation.

ie is the recent stuff on navigation bars good or bad code? I could just
about understand it.

Having to quote things several times with various delimiters eg <!--#if
followed by expr="..." etc makes no use of python's clean syntax.

My view is that it's easier to do the programming in Python and use
strings therein. I guess I can then do without most of the <!--#
keywords other than #var & #call

>I hope what I'm saying makes sense, because I think a lot of people are
>still approaching Zope from the mindset of CGI, PHP, ASP, etc., where
>you have code, logic and presentation all mingled in the same file.
>That's not what Zope is designed to encourage, just the reverse... we
>want you to seperate it as much as possible, because then you can gain
>re-use of data AND logic.
>
>Chris

-- 
Robin Becker