[Zope3-Users] interview for my diploma thesis about Zope 3 in education

[Stephan Richter]

On Monday 22 January 2007 07:08, Dominique Lederer wrote:
> For my diploma thesis, i would like to ask you to anwer or discuss a few
> questions, to see, what you think about this.
> (of course i will cite all the stuff)

I hope it is not too late.

> Here they are:
>
>
> * Do you think Zope (3) can be used at school or university level to
> support topics in computer science education? What topics would you
> recommend? Why?

Yes, like Java is taught because of it's object orientation, Zope 3 should be 
taught because of its component architecture. For me, the mental jump from 
object-oriented to component-oriented design is as big as the one from 
procedural to object-oriented programming.

Further, I think that Zope 3 is a great tool for education, because it is the 
only Open Source software that embraces test-driven development. Zope 3 is a 
prime example of why automated tests are so important. In addition, the *.txt 
files are just beautiful examples of great technical writing and 
documentation.

> * How would you convince someone who is in charge to use Zope 3 in his
> curriculum?

I think it would be a difficult sell. Zope 3 is, afterall, a Web application 
server. Only a small fraction of CS problems can be solved with a Web 
application. A programming language, on the other hand, can help solve a very 
wide range of problems. I think that Zope 3 as the full server only makes 
sense in a Web-development class. 

For general classes, I would only suggest libraries that illustrate very 
common patterns: zope.component, zope.interfaces, zope.event, 
zope.security, ...

> * How do you see Component Based Software Engineering (CBSE) related to
> Zope 3? What are the differences? Is Zope 3 an alternative for other
> component based frameworks in the industry and why?

Zope 3 is CBSE. Well, in Python there is only one component architecture and 
this is zope.component. Other programming languages offer their own 
solutions. So the choice of the CA is largely based on your choice of 
programming language and your type of application. For example, CORBA would 
not fit the Web nicely.

> * How do you see the future of Zope? Where do you (want to) see it in 2
> years?

The largest probelm for Zope 3 is currently the rate of adoption. Another way 
of looking at it is to say that people need to come out of the closet. Other 
technologies tend to steal the show with a lot of hype, but Zope 3 is well 
equipped to stand up to them. I think a lot of people know that, but they are 
afraid to spread the word. We really need more case studies and project 
reports.

In 2 years, I hope that Zope 3 has grown to an application framework that 
competes with the big Java bullies. I do not think that we should even 
compare ourselves to PHP, RoR, Turbogears or Django anymore. We should talk 
about why we think we are better and more productive than people with JBoss.

This will require a bit of marketing effort and more non-coding committments 
by people in the community.

Regards,
Stephan
-- 
Stephan Richter
CBU Physics & Chemistry (B.S.) / Tufts Physics (Ph.D. student)
Web2k - Web Software Design, Development and Training