Tiddlywiki type project in Python?

[Paul Boddie]

Diez B. Roggisch wrote:
>

[Quoting jkn...]

> > Well, that may be an/the answer, since another form of my question
> > would be 'how can I write a TiddlyWikiLike using Python instead of JS'
> > ;-). I appreciate that it might involve, for instance, a local server.
> > Does the idea of embedding python in a browser instead of Javascript
> > make any sense at all?
>
> Nope. Not really.

While I think TiddlyWiki is interesting from the perspective of
creating sites that are editable in the browser without having to
install or configure server-side Wiki software (which many people find
intimidating, even if it's a ten line program that uses
BaseHTTPServer), the drawbacks are numerous: even moderately small
Wikis are slow since browser-based DOMs aren't designed for storing and
manipulating large documents; published Wikis can be edited and saved,
but their changes remain unmerged with the original unless you install
various server-side extensions, compromising the simple "all in one
place" storage model; last time I looked, production of non-Wiki,
navigable sites from TiddlyWiki wasn't supported unless you wrote your
own tools. A lot of the effort getting around these problems is
arguably better invested in coming to terms with installing some
traditional Wiki software.

But where I don't agree with a negative assessment of Python in the
browser is in one area that TiddlyWiki inadvertently illustrates quite
nicely: the ability to conveniently distribute a sandbox to other
people which has its own rather nice, widely-supported input/output
system. People have been more enthusiastic about virtualisation
recently: "safe Python" in the browser (or with other visualisation
front-ends) would be a good lightweight virtualisation solution of
sorts, I think.

Paul