Python v PHP: fair comparison?

[Paul Boddie]

Luis M. González wrote:
>
> OK. But since when has python been considered a viable alternative for
> web development?

Since the Bobo era (ca. 1997), but quite possibly before. Sure, you had
to build your own mega-framework back then, but that's what a lot of
people were doing anyway.

> As a generalp purpose language, it's older.
> But as a web development language, it's olnly when people started to
> look for the "rails killer" and many python alternatives started to
> come up (although Django has been in development for a long time before
> all this hype).

I remember maintaining a long list of Web frameworks a few *years* ago.
It's true that most of them didn't resemble the slick marketed package
that you see with something like TurboGears, but you might be surprised
how much you got with Webware back in 2001:

http://www.webwareforpython.org/Docs/RelNotes-0.5.html

> I remember well, just a few months ago, there were many alternatives
> (remember "subway"?).

Some people would like you to believe that they pioneered the
mega-framework, amongst other things. Freely available documentation
undermines such claims if you know where to look (and actually choose
to do so).

Paul