[Zope3-dev] Re: IMPORTANT RFS: Through the Web Site Development

[Jon Whitener]

At 1/15/03 09:44 AM -0500, Shane Hathaway wrote:
>As the proposal says, we're attacking this on two fronts.  First, we're making coding simpler by reusing the simplicity of Python modules (without any Zope cruft) instead of ZClasses.  Second, by implementing simple configuration management, fewer people will have any need to write modules.
>
>Then, for the few people remaining who really do need to write code but need a little help, we could potentially implement a TTW module editor that resembles the ZClass management interface.

I feel that "the few people remaining" is a larger group than the phrase portrays.  Python programmers will of course be in the "First Front" group.  New, non-Python-programmer Zope users will all start in the "Second Front" group, but I predict that many, if not most, of these Second Front people will eventually become one of the "Few Remaining People".

I consider myself currently among "the Few" and I think that if you want great numbers of people to come to Zope, use Zope, and ultimately develop for Zope, the Few are those great numbers of people.

Of course, all this ignores "the Left Behind"! :}

I, for one, am giddy with excitement regarding the possibility that Zope 3 would enable me to transition from ZClass schnook to file-system Python module / product / package(?) developer, but as has been said, I'd really like a smoother transition.  Steve Alexander's comments about what he's working on in src/zope/app/schemagen is very exciting.

It's unclear to me how, when, where, and why I'd go to "pure" Python to make Zope do what I want.  I agree that Python is a wonderfully easy language, but:

>class Document:
>
>  def setText(self, text):
>    self.text = text

is still fairly foreign to me.  Where does it go?  How does it fit in with Zope?  What if I have never used IDLE, or know it exists?  Users in this position are confronted with problems and questions, not solutions.  *However*, after exploring a few modules that Zope 3 has created for me, I think I'd be much more confident about continuing down the First Front path.

So to restate it, I think the Second Front (non-Python-programmers) would generally *want* to graduate to First Front status, given a little direction and guidance, and that these transitioning people (the Few) could eventually become important contributors to Zope (the Proud, the Zilluminati).

Jon Whitener
Detroit Michigan USA