Choosing the right framework

[Ian Bicking]

On Wed, 2003-07-16 at 07:54, Carsten Gehling wrote:
> Oh how often this subject may come up...
> 
> The thing is, I've come to the decision of abandoning PHP as much as
> possible (old projects still remain...), and use Python for all purposes.
> Reason: One language to fit it all (instead of having one language for
> webprogramming, one for batches, etc...)
> 
> I stand now at the point where I must choose a framework for my web
> application development. I've skimmed a few: mod_python, pso and Zope.
> However, I cannot decide on which to choose.
> 
> I've read descriptions and comments on
> http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/WebProgramming to get other's
> opinions. The user comments are sparse though, so I've decided to ask here.
> 
> I like the ideas behind Zope. For instance the "long running process"
> feature that improve performance and retain scripts between requests, among
> other things. I do not, however, like the design of the management
> interface, it would not appeal to my customers. I'm not yet knowledgable
> enough about Zope, to know if this can be changed. Anyone who can elaborate?
> (MaxM don't answer "Plone"... ;-)

Webware and SkunkWeb both also use long running processes, and it's an
option with Quixote (which can be run in a variety of environments).

> pso looks like the framework that is easiest to deploy. If run under
> mod_python, it also retains scripts in memory, but does it allow for the
> aforementioned application variables? And does the performance match up
> compared to mod_python and Zope?

Anything not CGI-based is likely to be faster than Zope.

> What is your preferred framework? And why?

I use Webware (when I can).  It's fairly light, when I was first looking
around it was one of the few things outside of Zope that was fully
developed.  I didn't (and still don't) like Zope -- if you like Python,
you will be disappointed when you realize you don't get to use it much
in Zope, or when you do it's a crippled or complicated Python.  [To
Zope's credit, they are trying to improve this in Zope 3]

Some other options I might recommend looking at would be SkunkWeb and
Quixote, which are also fairly mature.

  Ian