The problem is not the Eiffel-Zope integration but the Eiffel-Python integration. If Eiffel comes with an open C API it should be possible to bindings for Python (however they will look like because I don't know the API). Using Google I found at least one project working on some kind of Eiffel-Python integration: http://epolyglot.sourceforge.net Maybe that's a good starting point. Andreas ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Roby" <vekn@msn.com> To: <zope-dev@zope.org> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 16:01 Subject: [Zope-dev] Extending Zope with Eiffel

Ok ... don't laugh (too hard) yet. I know this sounds of blasphemy but let me explain.

I spent many years as a meteorologist in the Navy. One tool that would have been invaluable to me (to provide better predictions and warning capabilities) is an expert system. I am sure NOAA probably has one but the Navy doesn't. And they are the ones that would benefit from such a system the most because their forecasting responsibilities are global in nature where NOAA has a much smaller yard to watch over.

I have pondered how to build such a system for over 10 years. Things began to fall into place this year when I stumbled upon Zope and when the Navy decided to get serious about Web Services.

I like Python ... but I don't think (as a scripting language) it is up to the challenge of an expert system. A language that I feel is up to the challenge is Eiffel (especially in conjunction with ISE EiffelStudio .. an awesome modeling and development environment). So a question for the Zope guru's out there. Since Python is such an adept "glue language" and Eiffel systems are distributed as C-packages, from a technical perspective, would it be absurd to develop the system in Eiffel and integrate it into Zope as a product (or better yet a Web Service in the future).

Am I way off base here ? Or am I wrong about my assessment of Python's ability to build an expert system ?

Thanks (in advance) for any insight...

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On Thu, 25 Oct 2001, Eric Roby wrote:

I like Python ... but I don't think (as a scripting language) it is up to the challenge of an expert system. A language that I feel is up to the challenge is Eiffel (especially in conjunction with ISE EiffelStudio .. an [...] Am I way off base here ? Or am I wrong about my assessment of Python's ability to build an expert system ?

I can't give you any feedback on python's suitability for building expert systems, but I can say that Python is *not* a scripting language. It happens to be very useful for that, but it is a real, full blown, sophisticated, Object Oriented programming language. It is, however, primarily an *interpreted* language rather than a compiled one, though you can optimize around that with the appropriate use of modules written in C or C glue code calling modules written in other compiled languages. If you already have an expert system in Eiffel or some other compiled language, then taking advantage of Python's facility for acting as a glue language would make a lot of sense... --RDM