[Zope] ANN: Perl For Zope

[Kevin Dangoor]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric W. Sink" <eric@sourcegear.com>
To: "Paul Everitt" <Paul@digicool.com>
Cc: <zope@zope.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Zope] ANN: Perl For Zope


[snip]
> Maybe it's about "scripting languages vs. Java".
>
> Sad to say, a majority of IT people in the world think that the terms
> "application server" and "Java" are nearly synonymous.  Next time you
> have a chance to visit a major Internet tradeshow, look around at all
> the Java-based application servers.  You can't swing a dead cat
> without hitting one of them.
[snip]
> think.  In other words, let's just suppose that Zope really wants to
> be 'The Scripting-Language Application Server'.

Or maybe just "The Application Server/Content Management System"? Here's a
tally of what we've got (* = to be released):
HTTP
WebDAV
XML-RPC
SOAP*
Python
C (if you really want to :)
XML/XSLT*
Perl*
SQL (Oracle, Sybase, PostgreSQL, ...)

That's a pretty broad range of support. You can attach to all sorts of good
things with a system like that. Someone might look at that list and say
"man, that's one powerful, flexible application platform!" Those IT folks
you're referring to might say, "but we just invested $500,000 in Java based
stuff".

Now, I have no idea what all might be in the works at DC... but, I wouldn't
be surprised if they happened to find the right partner that they might
integrate some Java in with Zope. In fact, through the wonder of Open
Source, they could create JavascriptMethods by borrowing from Mozilla and
use some of the Apache group's work to get servlets and the like to play
nice with Zope objects.

I'm not trying to scare people with this made-up talk of Java. My point is
that Zope is a very powerful framework that is already fairly language
agnostic. It will probably benefit by having better ties to the other widely
used languages.

I don't know Java. But, I wouldn't be afraid to hook into a servlet that
provides useful functionality. I use tools all the time that I have no
desire to look inside of.

Yes, I agree that Zope needs more newbie docs and APIs need to be better
documented (and I do believe that those things are moving forward). But,
evolution of the Zope platform is important as well... and keep in mind that
DC is not doing all of the work alone here. ActiveState is involved as well
(just as DC has a partnership for the XSLT stuff that is underway).

Kevin