Which Python web framework is most like Ruby on Rails?

[Robert Kern]

Alex Martelli wrote:
> Robert Kern <robert.kern at gmail.com> wrote:
>    ...
> 
>>Picking RoR because you want to do the project in Ruby makes sense.
>>Picking Ruby because it only has one web framework is as silly as picking
>>one Python web framework at random. Just because RoR is the only Ruby web
>>framework around doesn't mean it's suitable for every project.
> 
> If you claim there's a web project that's unfeasible to do in Ruby,
> you'd better come up with a strong example.  If you're making no such
> claim, which would be counter to the claims of the Ruby community, then
> there aren't gonna be any web projects unfeasible with Rails, either.

Since web programming isn't my bailywick, I'll back off any specific claim about
unsuitability. That said, I am always suspicious about such claims of
universality in what seems to be a relatively broad field. It seems to me that
such claims bear a greater burden of proof. I recall such rhetoric in the early
days of Zope. It didn't quite pan out that way.

> The multiplicity of frameworks in Python obviously makes the situation
> very different: there might well be projects for which Python's quite
> suitable IF a fairy godmother pointed you to just the right framework...
> but lacking a fairy godmother, you're out of luck.

We've got a few fairy godmothers.

http://pyre.third-bit.com/pyweb/index.html
http://colorstudy.com/docs/shootout.html

My question is this: Why doesn't one need a fairy godmother to pick from the set
{RoR, Zope, TurboGears, CherryPy, ...}? Or rather, why is "Here's a framework
which is the only one to be implemented in a particular language," a good fairy
godmother? Why doesn't *that* process take a few months of evaluation?

> To put it another way: one reason I love Python is that I strongly
> subscribe to the idea that there should preferably be only one obvious
> way to do something.  Unfortunately, this principle is very badly broken
> by the multiplicity of Python web frameworks.

Believe me, I'm all in favor of condensing the number of Python web frameworks
or making the currently available fairy godmothers better. I'm not arguing
against that. It's just that the decision process that you described seemed to
me to be flawed.

-- 
Robert Kern
robert.kern at gmail.com

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
 Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
  -- Richard Harter