[Zope] Considerations using Zope

[BZ]

(a ton of people on this topic, but hey, more is better)


1. Object Orientation
> In which ways is the language object oriented en which things are
> missing from the language.

Totally 100%. It gets real good when you think of web pages and folders as
objects.

> 4. Support
>
> How / howfar is the development platform used by developers.
> Is there a good knowledge base / FAQ's available.
> Are there good / many  newsgroups available... ( Hmmmm, depend on
> response to this message  ;-) )

There is a ton of information. Almost always an answer to your question,
you just have to go to the big three. 1) Google. 2) Zope.org 3) This list.

> 5. 3th party support
> Are there extentional development tools available.
> What kind of engines are available. ( python / zope )
> Are extra components available. If so, which. ( yeah yeah, Zope product
> database is one)

You can use a host of tools available to edit zope code (python). If you
are talking products, the Zope product database it is the best. If you
need more try the big three (above).

> 6. Cost
>  > What do the essential development tools cost.
> What are the costs to commercially use the development platform.

$0 + $0 = $0. Hardware and people are your cost. It runs real well on very
low end hardware and can scale really well with ZEO if you need it to. The
best example of scale I know of is http://www.cbsnewyork.com (48 linux
servers).

> 7. Userfriendly
> > How good is the development platform.
> Are all tools needed available.
> Is the platform intuitive to use.

I am not sure I agree with everyone here, but Zope is good in the begining
and the end. In the begining to start using it, it is very easy. You have
methods, dtml, html, versions, ftp. All easy stuff. When you are a pro,
Zope is also very easy to bring a concept to reality. I think the toughest
part is the middle ground, where you know enough to know about objects,
python, products, but no real programming background (sadly, this is where
I am). I can still do a ton, but some of the more "prgramming 201"
concepts are tough.

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

Server (boxen), OS (Windows, Unix, MacOSX, Solaris?) and some connection
to the interner. I started building and hosting on 300 MHz pentiums with
64 MB or Ram off of a 384 K SDSL line and have moved up to 1 Ghz Athalons
with 512MB ram on OC3. Zope is no speed demon but it is doing SO much it
is amazing how fast it is. It also responds well to Mhz and Ram as well as
caching. Again, Zope can scale as far as you want it to go.

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

Getting better. Good OO knowledge works anywhere and going from Java ->
Python -> Java is not supposed to be hard.

Hope this helps. I had to convince my old company (dotbomb) to go Zope
over Vignette. It took hours of work, papers and in the end, I just spend
a weekend and built a very working prototype of something that has been
built in .asp in about 6 weeks. I got to do one site in Zope and another
and another. They were always impressed with what it could do but weary of
the support and "freeness". Hopefully that has changed in the market now
for smaller companies. Amazing what happens when you don't have a million
dollars to spend.

BZ