[Zope3-dev] Flexibility

[Tres Seaver]

On Tue, 26 Mar 2002, Chris Withers wrote:

> Steve Alexander wrote:
> > 
> > I think it is not helpful to compare Zope 3 filesystem products with
> > simple Zope 2 through-the-web systems.
> 
> Yeah, but just bare in mind the end we're aiming for here will be
> those people who use TTW simple stuff first and then want a fluid
> transition to more powerful ways of working.
> 
> If Zope 3 doesn't allow simple development from it's first release,
> it'll fail from day 1.
> 
> If it doesn't allow the fluid transition to more powerful stuff, then
> it'll fail at the same place Zope 2 does...
> 
> But, it's one helluva opportunity to get this all right and eb a world
> beater :-)

Let's "review the bidding," please:

  - Zope3, as constituted so far, is *explicitly* for developers,
    not for content managers;  Zope3 is supposed to provide the
    platform on which developers build the applications used by
    content managers.

  - Many of Zope2's notorious problems are a result of its inability
    to decide who its primary audience is;  Zope3 is avoiding that
    mistake firmly, for now.

  - The "simple script" development paradigm of Python is very much
    like the "just a few PageTemplates and a PythonScript" development
    model of Zope2:  both work, but bang up against their intrinsic
    limitations when pushed too far.  Zope3 is not *yet* able to
    support this model, but it doesn't support *any* TTW development
    yet.  I think we can assume that the moral equivalent of the
    small TTW app will be at least as easy in Zope3;  but it is
    *not* more important than getting the security architecture
    right, for instance.

  - Perhaps now is a fruitful moment for somebody to tackle the
    problem of writing tools for managing Zope3 configuration?
    *That* is the problem which Zope3 will stumble over long before
    TTW scripting.  If site administrators can't figure out how to
    install packages, we're doomed:  Zope3 transfers a good deal
    of the "burden of complexity" from developers to site admins.

Tres.
-- 
===============================================================
Tres Seaver                                tseaver@zope.com
Zope Corporation      "Zope Dealers"       http://www.zope.org