[Zope] Considerations using Zope

[Lennart Regebro]

From: "Daniël Hooymans" <d.hooymans@edufocus.nl>
>1. Object Orientation
>In which ways is the language object oriented en
>which things are missing from the language.

Not only is Python a fully object oriented language, but since Zope uses the
object oriented database ZODB you have full object orientation. No need to
translate between a relational database structure and the object-oriented
language.

This is one of the main benefits of Zope, and a big contributing factor to
the rapid development possible with Zope.

> 2. Server and client objects.
>
> To what extend is it possible to define and use client side
> objects aside from server components. e.g. Possibility to
> include/use special tags which automagically instantiate the
> correct custom control objects.

You can use any tags you want. And you can use any client side
objects/controls you want. But you can't *write* any client side objects in
Zope, becasue Zope is a *server*.
So I guess I don't really understand this question.

> 3. Framework
>
> How diverse is the default library of Objects and methods.
> (Guess this is more a python thing besides the use of products)

It's *extremely* diverse. There are few things I have needed that doesn't
already exist.

> 4. Support
> How / howfar is the development platform used by developers.

I don't understand what "far" means in this context.

> Is there a good knowledge base / FAQ's available.

There is a good knowledge base availiable: the people using Zope. :-)
zope@zope.org is the central of this. The documentation is not that great.

> Are there good / many  newsgroups available... ( Hmmmm, depend
> on response to this message  ;-) )

zope@zope.org is a mailing.list, not a newsgroup. ;-)

> 5. 3th party support
> Are there extentional development tools available.

Yes.

> What kind of engines are available. ( python / zope )

Engines? I don't understand this question.

> Are extra components available. If so, which.

Tons. 669 is the current count. :-)
http://www.zope.org/Products/all_products

> ( yeah yeah, Zope product database is one)

No, that is not an extra component. It's needed.


> 6. Cost
> What do the essential development tools cost.

$0

> What are the costs to commercially use the development platform.

$0

> 7. Userfriendly
> How good is the development platform.

It's very easy to get started with, but there is a lot of things to know,
and the more you want to do, the more you need to know. So it's a never
ending quest for more knowledge, and you will never feel that you are fully
learned. The Zope 3 project is trying to make that situation a bit better,
so that you won't need to know so much of the internals of Zope to do the
really advanced stuff.

>Are all tools needed available.

Yes.

> Is the platform intuitive to use.

Sometimes it's very intuitive, sometimes not.

> 8. Distribution
> What is needed to host a website using the platform.
> (no need to answer.. zope ??)

Right.

> 9. XML Support
> Which tools are available.

This is a question posed by somebody who doesn't really know what he wants
to know, I think. :-)

> 10. Developer value
> What is the value of a developer having good knowledge
> of the platform on the jobmarket.

That depends a lot on the country you are in. Zope is big in Germany and
France for example, but not in Sweden. There also seems to be quite a lot of
Zope jobs in the US. I have no feeling for how the situation is in the
Netherlands.

> [11]. What are other pros/cons using Zope / Python as development
platform.

The best part of it is the rapid development. It's quick to get started with
doing your own products, and developing new features is quicker than any
other development platform I've used. This is very much thanks to the clean
and easy-read and extremely dynamic nature of Python.