Andre Meyer wrote at 2003-10-23 11:40 +0200:
... Should I use ZODB or MySQL?
If you have highly structure mass data, use a relational database. If you have unstructured data (text, images, binary data, ...) use the ZODB.
DTML or ZPT?
Use ZPT (with a few exceptions: in Z SQL Methods, for Javascript/CSS/email generation).
I want to make sure that the database is safe and can be backed up. Can I access the ZODB using Python programs?
Yes. But a ZODB storage can only be accessed by a single process at a time. You will use ZEO (Zope Enterprise Objects) when several processes need to access the ZODB at the same time. ZEO is a storage server that centralized access to the storage.
How does this work? Should I first learn Python or Zope?
Like with all OO systems, the basics are quite simple but the complete story is very complex. Thus, the best approach (in my view): Look at the Python tutorial (--> python.org). Read the Zope book. Look at the Zope tutorial (--> in Zope integrated) These give you the basics. Learn more as needed later...
Can I convert an Excel sheet to read into Zope (using Python)?
You can do this via "csv" as an intermediary. You will need Zope's "External Method"s. -- Dieter