[ZDP] BackTalk to Document The Zope Book (2.6 Edition)/Using Zope Page Templates

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A comment to the paragraph below was recently added via http://zope.org/Documentation/Books/ZopeBook/2_6Edition/ZPT.stx#2-25

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    Every path starts with a variable name. If the variable contains
    the value you want, you stop there.  Otherwise, you add a slash
    ('/') and the name of a sub-object or property.  You may need to
    work your way through several sub-objects to get to the value
    you're looking for. 

      % Anonymous User - Nov. 20, 2003 4:17 am:
       Newbie confusion:

       Every path starts with a variable name....

       So 'user', 'home', 'here', 'template', 'request' and 'container' are variables? 

       You add a slash (/) and the name of a sub-object or property....

       What is a property? Can you please give me an example of a property?
       Even better. Five examples of properties, how they can be used and why they are cool.

       I've got all these words jumbling around in my head:

       object, value, variable, property, path, expression... the subtle differences in meanings are getting
       smudged....
       My understanding of OOP is that everything is an object and objects consist of data and methods, I suppose
       that sub-objects could be referenced using path notation /rootobject/sub-object/sub-object
       But what is a property?

       Where do properties fit into the jigsaw puzzle?

       I think this tutorial needs a whole subsection on properties.

      % Anonymous User - Nov. 24, 2003 4:20 pm:
       think of a property as an attribute of the class or container.
       property could be a name, type, category, quantity , size , etc...
       Review the object oriented section for further clarification , focus on a property and attribute representing
       the same concept.

      % Anonymous User - Feb. 1, 2004 1:32 am:
       Ok, to summarize some of the above sentiment, and possibly what is below:

       COMPLAINT: This book is hard for beginners.
       RESPONSE: Look at this resource, duh! (i.e. RTFM!)

       Obviously, the Zope documentation can not aim to teach you computer science (this is the valid part of RTFM);
       it shouldn't have to teach you what a property is, or what "::=" means), however, perhaps it should make
       understanding the underlying concepts more accessible, through links to resources (as other nice users have
       posted), or by explaining what level of knowledge is required before reading this manual and expecting to be
       able to use Zope.