[Zope3-dev] Re: ZCML bad ;-)

Christian Lück christian.lueck at ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Tue Jan 24 20:06:59 EST 2006


Shane Hathaway wrote:
> Christian Lück wrote:
> 
>>>> From a lerners point of view (for example me) the thematic organization
>>
>> is a pro too: The z3 beginner will probably need the 'zope' and
>> 'browser' namespaces at first. Browsing apidoc zcml namespaces lets your
>> knowledge grow fast, because you get structured information.
> 
> 
> How do you reconcile this opinion with the opinion posted by Kevin?
> 
> [Kevin Smith]
> 
>> I think people are afraid to give ZCML anymore traction than it
>> already has. I for one find it intimidating and confusing. Not so much
>> because of its format, or api documentation, but because it is unclear
>> what and how all the names and attributes interrelate. It's taken me two
>> books, a bunch of samples, and alot of trial and error to get me to a
>> very basic level. It seems easy now that I know what I know, but I
>> thought Zope3 was going to have a flatter learning curve. I blame ZCML
>> and whatever it might be hiding. :)
> 
> 
> It sounds to me like the structure made ZCML difficult to learn.
> 
> Shane
> 

Yes, the complexity of z3 is overwelming in the beginning. And it's
often still trial and error. But I won't blame the namespaces/syntax of
zcml. I always liked to browse the namespace-divisions of apidoc in
order to learn about alternatives and related things. I'm happy that
information about rdb is blinded out when I'm aiming at views and vice
versa.
In fact, I do not know exactly what to blame for the learning curve. On
the one hand the component concept is what made me turn to z3 and what
makes me adhere. But on the other hand all this interfaces factories
adapters views things cost me weeks, if not months.
Huh, tests, they might be a suspect. Writing tests is about
metaprogramming and I am totally lost in this forrest. The test passes,
but the app fails on exceptions... Most of the documentation is doctests
but IMO tests are the most difficult thing with z3. If I was called into
the witness stand, I would probably blame the connex between tests and
documentation.
But, hey, in the affair, *I*'m having with Zope3 for five months now,
the different namespaces/the syntax of zcml have never been a problem.

Reconciliatio/Concordia opinionum? Impossible for this subject. We are
deeling with very individual histories of learning here. - Sorry, my
term 'example' may have been wrong. - You might assume a probability
distribution and an average zope3 learner, but that is very different
from reconciliatio of real learners.

Christian


More information about the Zope3-dev mailing list