FR Chalaoux wrote:

Hi,

Before I insert 25DM in Beehive for the ZClass book, I would like to have your point of view on this book !

One of my colleagues has just finished working through the tutorial. I asked her a few questions about it. Here are her answers. --------

1: Is the tutorial you've been doing worth 10 quid?

Definitely (though that's not saying it couldn't be improved)

2: What skill level is it aimed at?

Ostensibly beginner, but to really understand it I needed to have a general understanding of Zope (from doing the Zope tutorial), Python (at absolute beginner level), a bit of DTML (from reading the DTML reference, and being talked to by a clever person) and HTML. It was probably also helpful that I had a vague background knowledge of OO principles, databases and stuff. So, aimed at ZClass beginners with relevant background knowledge.

3: What did you get out of it?

I feel competent to set up a simple interactive application using ZClasses now. Security and linking to external databases were outside the scope of the tutorial.

4: Other general comments?

It told a good story, presented coherent examples, built up a little self-contained system, and generally speaking, taught it well. However, there were a few iffy bits: some of the HTML in the examples was technically incorrect, and the DTML coding style was sometimes over-verbose and not properly explained. My biggest problem using the tutorial was caused by my not realising that ZClass meta-types are case-sensitive. This was not stressed in the tutorial - take care! Overall I'd rate it 8/10, losing points chiefly for poor coding style and a few inadequate explanations. As a whole, it's been very useful (and saved the CTO a lot of time talking me through things). -------- We'll be sending our detailed comments on the explanations, and HTML and DTML problems, back to Beehive. You may also wish to look at the ZCatalog tutorial, the Job-Board how-to, and the Creating a catalog-aware ZClass how-to. http://www.zope.org/Documentation/How-To/ZCatalogTutorial http://www.zope.org/Members/mukhsein/job_board_howto http://www.zope.org/Members/AlexR/CatalogAware Also, see what you can find on the Zope Documentation Project pages: http://zdp.zope.org/ -- Steve Alexander Software Engineer Cat-Box limited