On Tue, 27 Feb 2001, Paul Newman wrote:
I only know HTML. No programming. I found Learning Python very difficult. But I do (just about!) manage to run FreeBSD :-)
How hard is it for non-programmers to learn Zope? Would PHP be easier? How many of you guys graduated from Python to Zope? If I only know HTML can I realistically learn anything beyond the very basics of Zope or am I looking at learning Pyhton in parallel?
Should I start with the Zope Book? Should I start learning python at the same time? If Learning Python was hard, which book do you recommend?
Zope isn't really a *language* (like PHP), but a *platform*, and as such, you can make it very easy or very deep. Using Zope to post web pages, handle basic user authentication, etc., is very easy--you could learn in two hours how to replicate a normal, static web site in Zope--and you'd get the benefits of its web content management interface. A few more hours will give you ideas about using <dtml-in> to iterate over things (to create site maps automatically, and lists), and a few more will give you confidence in basic SQL database connectivity. The reality is that you can do these things w/o any 'real' programming, whereas in PHP, you'd have to get your hands in more code. The new Zope Book is (IMHO) the best starting resource for Zope. It's not perfect--it can be a bit dense at times--but take it slowly and good luck! I think you only need to learn Python if you want to do some Zope development, which is further down the road for you. (tho' Python is a fairly straightforward language, and learning little chunks, like handling lists and such, will help you w/many things.) Learning Python (O'Reilly) seems to be most people's choice for a first-Python book. Good luck! -- Joel Burton <jburton@scw.org> Director of Information Systems, Support Center of Washington