[CentralOH] Python Based Websites

[Austin Godber]

Actually SWIG might be closer to what you want, rather than "Extending
Python".  I think SWIG is better suited to interfacing with an existing code
base.

http://www.swig.org/tutorial.html

Does anyone do this?  I used swig once in ruby for something somewhat like
this, and it worked fine.  I am kinda getting the feeling I am overlooking
something.

Austin

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 2:46 PM, Austin Godber <godber at gmail.com> wrote:

> Would it be acceptable to leave the "proprietary" component in C++ and just
> wrap that in Python.  He maintains his speed and security but gets to do the
> web stuff in python, where its going to be a bit easier.  Though security
> wise, anyone with access to the code would implicitly have access to the
> compiled module and be able to wrap it themselves in exactly the same way.
>  Though I imagine he is most interested in just protecting the algorithm
> since C++ programs can be copied as well.
>
> See this example for embedding a C/C++ module in a python program.
>
> http://docs.python.org/extending/extending.html#a-simple-example
>
> Austin
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 12:47 PM, Mark Erbaugh <mark at microenh.com> wrote:
>
>> I have a client who provides business training simulations. These are run
>> as short term competitions among teams of competitors. Each team represents
>> a company competing in the simulated marketplace. The competitors receive
>> information about current conditions for a business quarter and make
>> decisions (buy materials, hire employees, etc) for the next quarter. At the
>> end of each round (a simulated business quarter), the decisions from each
>> team are collected, processed and compared with decisions from other teams,
>> performance is calculated and new quarterly data is provided to the
>> competitors for the next round. This is usually done for 8 or so rounds
>> (quarters) over either a two or three day competition or over the course of
>> an academic term.
>>
>> When I got involved with the project, the data was transferred among the
>> participants using USB memory sticks. The participants use a proprietary C++
>> program that allowed them to view the data and make decisions. The original
>> developer had put some hooks in the code to transfer data via the web, but
>> never got that working. A web development company spent a year trying to get
>> a web-based solution working and failed. I was able to get a Python-based
>> (webpy) server working just a few weeks after figuring out the hooks in the
>> original program.
>>
>> The current goal is to move the entire project to web-based, just using
>> browsers for the client side. Despite my success (or maybe because it wasn't
>> a perfect solution), the client is not interested in pursuing a Python
>> solution, which is what I'd like. He still sees Python as a "toy" language
>> compared to C++. Also, although he is not a programmer, he understands a
>> little about C++, but seems unwilling to learn anything about Python (in
>> contrast to another client, who although he doesn't know Python, found he
>> can read the code well enough to make sense of it and suggest where it
>> wasn't working properly).
>>
>> Another concern is security. The calculations done between rounds is what
>> gives my client an edge over the competition and he doesn't want that to get
>> out. His concern (and I partly agree) is that since Python is interpreted,
>> it would be easier to reverse engineer than something compiled.  One of the
>> scenarios of concern is that we would install the server software on a
>> client's network for a single competition and that an unscrupulous client
>> would reverse engineer things to run additional, unapproved competitions.
>>
>> Are there some examples of Python (DJango, TG, etc) websites out there
>> that have a dynamic user experience that I could use to interest this client
>> in a Python solution?
>>
>> Are there ways to address the security concerns?
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Mark
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
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