[Python-Dev] Improving the CGI module

[John Belmonte]

Simon Willison wrote:
> I've recently started using Python for server side web development, and 
> I've been running in to some limitations in the CGI module.
...
> I have previous experience with PHP, which has a number of extremely 
> convenient mechanisms for dealing with form input and cookies that I 
> sorely miss when working with Python. I have started work on porting 
> some of these capabilities, but it struck me that several of the ideas 
> represented would make valuable additions to the Python standard library 
> itself.

Recently I was also thinking there is a lot of room for improvement. 
Although the Python libraries have objects that represent HTTP request 
and responses on the client side, there is no such thing for the server 
side to use from a CGI script.  (There is a little of this functionality 
mixed in with the HTTP server modules however.)

I would like to see modules such as Quixote's http_request and 
http_response (which were taken from Zope) improved and incorporated 
into the standard library.  They do the essentials like manage headers, 
status, encoding, and cookies.  Something I found useful was that they 
can even parse headers such as Accept and give you a dictionary of MIME 
types that the client will accept.  The mod_python modules might also 
offer some ideas.

Also, in any improvements that are made, I would like to see things kept 
general enough to support the REST architecture style [1].  In other 
words, don't assume that the client is always a web browser, or that the 
body of a POST is always a form, etc.  HTTP and CGI are for more than 
just serving web pages.

Regards,
-John Belmonte


[1] http://internet.conveyor.com/RESTwiki/


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