[Zope] data point on ease of learning Zope -- I give up.

[zooko@zooko.com]

Hi Zopesters!


I'm an experienced Python programmer, and I need to hack together a
quick web app that simply accepts POSTed XML data entries from
authenticated users, stores the data persistently, and provides a
formatted HTML representation of the list of all such entries to the
same authenticated user.


I thought I would look at using ZODB so that I could have the coolness
of nearly transparent persistence.  Then I thought I would use Zope so
that I wouldn't have to bother with connecting the HTTP transactions to
the logic.


So I did `apt-get install zope'[1] to download and install the current
Debian-packaged version of Zope (v2.2.4), and while I was waiting on
the download I went to zope.org.



It is now about 3 hours later and I have not yet found any "example
code" or instructions that shows how to set up a basic web site or how
to write Python code that gets executed, CGI-style, in response to an
HTTP transaction.  I browsed zope.org, the ZDP, and a site called
"ZopeNewbies".  I looked at the "QuickStart" that came with the zope
server, but all I saw was how to edit web pages using DTML.  I don't
want to have anything to do with DTML (though we use it in my product,
Mojo Nation[2], which BTW is probably the second-biggest open source
Python app, after Zope), and I don't want to edit any static pages, so
I stopped reading the "QuickStart".


So now I give up.  I'm going to install apache (`apt-get install
apache'), and use the Python bsddb module for a simple dict-like
database.  


Even though I wasted about half of my scheduled time on trying to set
up a basic Zope server, I'll probably still have my prototype up and
running 3 hours from now, when I have a meeting with my co-workers.


Regards,

Zooko

[1]  apt-get is the app that implements Debian's package management
     system.

[2]  http://mojonation.net/