Embedding an Application in a Web browser

[Paul Boddie]

Atanas Banov wrote:
> paron wrote:
> > I forgot -- I like the idea of Kerrigell, too. It runs on top of
> > CherryPy, and lets you use python either in the server (which is just a
> > little program on your local machine) or embedded in the html pages, or
> > in a Kerrigell service, which is an application server based on Python.
>
> oh sure, why make it simple, when we can make it difficult?!

I don't see how running a local Web application server is more
difficult than messing around with ActiveX and/or Active Scripting (or
whatever it's called). Remember that Python already has various HTTP
server classes in the standard library, and making use of these classes
is very easy. I'd rather do that than touch ActiveX with a very long
stick, and the Active Scripting stuff, whilst amusing, is a known
security concern.

> your solution is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut!
>
> "... I keep hearing the sound of nuts being pulverized..."
> http://www.bobcongdon.net/blog/2005/11/java-sledgehammer.html

Why am I not surprised that the first three words of the quoted blog
article are "David Heinemeier Hansson"? Few people contributing to
comp.lang.python would suggest J2EE as a solution here, so I don't
quite see what relevance this particular hype echo from the blogosphere
has in this case, especially since running BaseHTTPServer isn't exactly
like running JBoss.

Sure, to have animated graphics is likely to stretch any Web-based
interface, despite recent support for things like SVG and
"destandardised" innovations like canvases in Web browsers. But if
cross-platform portability ever becomes an issue, the vanilla Web
application option is quite possibly the best route; whilst one can
embed Python in Konqueror with the right packages today, and whilst
support for Python scripting in Mozilla is coming along, it'll be a
long time before any piece of Python code will be able to run on more
than one of these configurations without modification. And beyond
Active Scripting, who can really be sure what Internet Explorer will
eventually support?

Paul