[Zope-dev] Comments on ZPatterns

Chris Withers chrisw@nipltd.com
Wed, 28 Jun 2000 15:10:10 +0100


> > "Phillip J. Eby" wrote:
> > > At 02:33 PM 6/11/00 -0600, Shane Hathaway wrote:
> > > >I believe I have come to understand the basics of ZPatterns and would
> > > >like to be sure I understand correctly, as well as help others
> > > >understand also.

Feel free to flame me if I've got this wrong, but:

I've read all the ZPatterns Wiki and I'm just taking tentative steps to
playing with LoginManager. I think the concepts are very cool but I see
two problems:

1. Too much jargon... by far... Lots of complicated words that are
meanlingless to the layman and don't help to convey the concepts. This
is compounded by the standard Zope problem of minimal documentation
aimed at the advanced developer. Can someone who understadns this all
take the time to write a ZPatterns guide to compliment the Wiki and
maybe simplify or explain in great detail all the terms (especially the
new ones that have popped up in the last few weeks)?

2. Feature runaway. It seems every day something new (and more
confusing) has been added to ZPatterns. I think ZPatterns will only work
if it is kept as simple and functional as possible. My view (bearing in
mind my limited understanding ;-) would be to concentrate on Containers,
Container Groups and Plugins on the one front and Racks, Specialists and
the various providers and agents on the other.

Comments always welcome,

cheers,

Chris

PS: The main reason I'm writing this is because I think ZPatterns are
very very cool but may well get ignored because no-one understands them
and they're too buggy and complicated to get working :/