[Zope] Re: Java re-invents DTML :-)

[Chris Withers]

Kevin Carlson wrote:
> Come on folks.  There's nothing wrong with supporting two templating 
> languages.  Quite honestly, dtml is much easier to learn for most and 
> has it's place in application development

...not unless some of its major current flaws are corrected. I think this is 
possible but I don't see the point of having two templating languages for one 
app server especially as we're now getting to the stage where you need to know 
_both_ before you can do anything useful with Zope :-(

> One simple reason that dtml should be supported (in addition to the fact 
> that it works well) is for the support of existing Zope applications.  
> If Zope was to suddenly stop supporting dtml, it would cause many, many 
> people a lot of work if they wanted to get features available in a new 
> version of Zope.  The argument could be made that they "need" to migrate 
> to zpt in the opinion of some, but that is not good business for Zope.

Indeed. I think DTML should be supported for the rest of Zope 2.x. I really 
_don't_ think it should appear in Zope 3, but no-dobut someone has already 
shoved it in there looking for a quick fix for SQL or some such :-(

> I don't know why there are a zealous few out there that want to 
> eliminate dtml from Zope.  If you don't like it, don't use it.  This is 
> technology folks, not religion. Oh yeah, my bad -- for some, technology 
> is religion. ;-)

It's not religion, it's marketing. Zope currently has two templating languages. 
This splits the development effort for templating languages, means two sets of 
documentation and examples have to be kept up to date, two sets of bugs have to 
be looked after, etc. It also means new users have to face two sets of learning 
because no-one has the guts to clearly recommend one language over the other.
That's not good for Zope.

cheers,

Chris