[Zope] Tomcat vs Zope

[Simon Coles]

Joe,

I was involved in Zope work but then moved to a part of the company where 
for business reasons we are having to go with J2EE and Oracle. We're still 
getting to grips with J2EE so this is my initial impression.

Firstly:
		- every line I write in Java makes me miss Python more. Java is a lot
    of hard work. Yes, because its so strict you produce correct code, but
    the learning curve is steep, compiler unforgiving (oh for an 
interpreter),
    and I can't help feeling the language should deal with the details, not
    me.
  - J2EE is *huge*. We have one book on the subject which is 1,600 pages.
    When I got into Zope I thought the Zope learning curve was steep - hah!

> * what are the strenghts and weakness of both
>   platforms?

>From a commercial point of view, if you are selling a product (like we are) 
for use in Intranets, in our market the words "Java" and "Oracle" open 
chequebooks. "Zope" and "Python" don't. Java looks good on a CV at the 
moment.

Java has lots of libraries. Then again, you can call Java libraries from 
Python, and the Python libraries are pretty good too.

Python has an interpreter which makes it very easy to test stuff out. 
Python has a much shallower learning curve than Java.

Java is a much lower level language than Python. Python's much quicker to 
learn, and importantly for me, I can come back to code 4 months later and 
understand it.

It doesn't feel to me as if the Java community is as helpful/supportive as 
the Zope/Python one. Sure, there are lots of people involved, but its much 
more commercial so there's less sense of community.


> * is it possible to have something like the
>   Zope Management Interface for Tomcat?

Don't think so. In J2EE land its pretty much assumed you have file access 
to the server, and that's where you do interesting stuff. There is some 
kind of console but I have yet to get it working.


> * is tomcat web development object oriented as
>   the zope one (I just love having objects
>   that talk to each other and produce the
>   pages. Makes design much easier and powerful)

Ish. Objects at a lower level. You have to do a lot of plumbing yourself I 
think - but I don't know enough abuut it myself (yet).


If Zope does what you want to do, and you can use it in your environment, 
then I would definately use Zope.

Hope that helps,



Simon

--------- My opinions are my own, NIP's opinions are theirs ----------
Simon J. Coles                                 Email: simon@nipltd.com
New Information Paradigms                  Work Phone: +44 1344 753703
http://www.nipltd.com/                     Work Fax:   +44 1344 753742
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