[Zope3-dev] Re: Zope 3 web root

[Martin Aspeli]

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 16:56:23 -0000, Shane Hathaway <shane at hathawaymix.org>  
wrote:

> Wade Leftwich wrote:
>> +1 from the standpoint of promoting corporate adoption, especially when
>> combined with first-class citizenship for RDBMS. (In the corporation I
>> work for, anyway.)
>
> Yes, RDBMS would become a first-class citizen.  New users would be able  
> to write some page templates and SQL scripts on the filesystem and have  
> them work with no extra effort.  I know I'd like that capability myself.  
>   However, I expect ZODB to continue to be the dominant platform for  
> writing Zope applications, because ZODB is quite productive for writing  
> abstract applications.
>
> Zope is a feast with many kinds of food.  When people come to the feast,  
> most are not willing to try everything at once, particularly the entrees  
> from the land of OODBMS.  First let them have some familiar foods.  When  
> they find out how finely prepared the food is, they'll be ready to try  
> the meaty main course.  Although many will still prefer the RDBMS salads.

I think this is an interesting idea, and I certanly like the goal of  
lowering the bar of entry. However, I wonder if we're not just proposing  
two fundamentally orthogonal ways of working. One uses python modules with  
logic in adapters, views on objects with page templates etc. that all  
operate on content objects in an object store. Another a hierarchy of page  
templates or static pages and mounted databases. This latter way of  
working is lot more like the "traditional" model that's found in anything  
 from PHP to JSF, and quite frankly is therefore probably easier to  
swallow. But would it at the same time integrate well with the rest of the  
Zope world, and with arguably better ways of working? And how difficult  
would it be to move from one model to the other? Honestly, I don't know  
the answer. I'm neither for or against your proposal, I just want to  
understand it, because I *want* to like it - I want to see Zope leverage  
more of the technologies and environments people from the outside world  
are used to working in.

-- 
(muted)