[nycbug-talk] Zeeking Zope aZZiZtanZe

[N.J. Thomas]

* Jim Brown <jpb at sixshooter.v6.thrupoint.net> [2006-03-09 20:20:38 -0500]:
> I'm getting started on a small project and would like to do it in
> Zope+Python.  I'm looking for anyone who can help me struggle through
> the first few hurdles and give me some guidance.

This is not so much advice on how to clear hurdles as it is a plea to
not run in that particular race altogether.

Zope is one of those things that sound great in theory, and because it
is sold as a two for one with Python, people are eager to try it out. I
love Python, I use it every single day, and it never ceases to amaze me
how simple, elegant, and powerful it is.

I can't say the same for Zope though. About 4 years ago, the place I was
working for at the time had me setup up a Zope/Plone site. It took us
roughly 2-4 months to set up the site, integrate it with our
applications, debug, etc. (Even at the end of that period, we weren't
really finished, we just decided to roll it out anyway.) I wasn't
terribly pleased with Zope, since I could have done what I wanted to
with Apache, mod_python, and custom code in a quarter of the time.

Perhaps we were not using Zope/Plone to its full extent, or perhaps Zope
was not what we needed, but I heard similar stories from other Python
users. One would think that a fairly complete understanding of Python
and CGI, and HTML, and how web technologies work in general would be
sufficient to be somewhat proficient in Zope, sadly that was not the
case for us.

Perhaps Zope will work out better for you, but chalk me up as a vote
against it.

Thomas

-- 
N.J. Thomas
njt at ayvali.org
Etiamsi occiderit me, in ipso sperabo