[Zope] Beginners

[Martijn Faassen]

cesare@planningsrl.it wrote:
 
> I am just a Zope beginners and I am studing it to make sure it is a good
> choice to develop an internet application I have been required. This
> application has quite a lot of data (the biggest table is about 100.000
> records) with a lot of people quering it.
 
> >From the experts I would like some information:
> 
> -Is Zope the right tool to develop this kind of application?

It's hard to say exactly without a clearer idea of what the application
is to do. You can definitely use ZSQL methods to display data from some
database on web pages. You can likewise use SQL insert statements to
insert new data. This type of thing is quite doable. For the simpler
database applications, it gets near being actually *easy* to do, once
you're over the initial learning hump.

> -Is Zope not to much young to develop this kind of application?

Zope has been around for about a year now. Before this it was Principia
(and a collection of open source applications such as Bobo), which had
been around for quite a while too (don't know how long?). The open
source Zope is currently already in its second generation; Zope 2 is
quite a lot different from Zope 1. I therefore wouldn't say Zope is that
young at all. It is definitely not immature.

Note that Zope is based on Python, which is a stable and mature
language.

> -Is it really stable?

Yes, I'd say its stable. There have been reports of Zope locking up on
occasion, but in general I believe this kind of experience is rare. So
it seems to be quite stable. Any problems tend to be solved quickly.

> -Which database server is better to use? (Interbase, Oracle, MS SQL)

Someone who knows more about this topic should answer this one, if this
isn't a holy war anyway. Zope works well with most databases. One
possible exception is MySQL as it has no transaction support (yet); even
so people have been using it with success (it's just not so good if you
plan to insert a lot of records as part of the web application, querying
the database is not a problem).

> -Which SO is better to use? (Linux, NT)

Both seem to work well with Zope. Each have their particular advantages.
With NT you can tie Zope into COM objects (using Python). With Linux you
can access its vast wealth of open source and other software (again
using Python). I've heard reports that on lower end machines Linux is
slightly faster with Zope.

There doesn't seem to be any big difference between the two platforms,
looking at Zope alone. I myself prefer to use Linux. :)

> -Which HTTP server is better to use? (Apache, ZServer, IIS)

ZServer is easiest to use (and possibly also fastest as there is no
extra overhead. can anyone confirm this?). If you want to host non Zope
things on your web server, Apache may be your best bet; you can use its
RewriteRule system to seamlessly integrate non Zope and Zope. Apache is
also good if you want to use virtual hosting. I have no experience with
IIS myself, so others will have to answer here. I'm sure it works just
fine as well. :)

> -Do you have general considerations to make to me?

Zope is very powerful, but you do need to invest in learning about it.
The initial learning curve is considered to be tough by many people. Of
course it depends on where you're aiming; you can already use some of
its powerful features with a bit of learning. It does get harder if you
push it further, though. But the rewards are big as well; Zope is a very
extensible environment. You don't tend to run into the limits of the
system quickly; there don't seem to be too many limits. :)
 
> I know these questions are general but I need them to make me taking the
> right way!

I hoped my answers helped you a bit.

Regards,

Martijn