Python embedded like PHP

Tue Mar 26 10:02:32 EST 2002

Haven't seen anyone mention Cheetah over at
http://www.cheetahtemplate.org/ :

<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>$title</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY>

<TABLE>
#for $client in $clients
<TR>
<TD>$client.surname, $client.firstname</TD>
<TD><A HREF="mailto:$client.email">$client.email</A></TD>
</TR>
#end for
</TABLE>

</BODY>
</HTML>

Graphical designers can graphically design w/some idea of what it will
look like.

WYSIWYG editors will not vomit or ignore.

It requires minimal overhead re. typing extra characters - follows the
One True Python Way.

And it supports neato oo constructs such as template inheritance.

>From the sample page:

What is the philosophy behind Cheetah? 
Cheetah's design was guided by these principles: 

Python for the back end, Cheetah for the front end. Cheetah was
designed to complement Python, not replace it.

Cheetah's core syntax should be easy for non-programmers to learn. 

Cheetah should make code reuse easy by providing an object-oriented
interface to templates that is accessible from Python code or other
Cheetah templates.

Python objects, functions, and other data structures should be fully
accessible in Cheetah.

Cheetah should provide flow control and error handling. Logic that
belongs in the front end shouldn't be relegated to the back end simply
because it's complex.

It should be easy to separate content, graphic design, and program
code, but also easy to integrate them.
A clean separation makes it easier for a team of content writers,
HTML/graphic designers, and programmers to work together without
stepping on each other's toes and polluting each other's work. The
HTML framework and the content it contains are two separate things,
and analytical calculations (program code) is a third thing. Each team
member should be able to concentrate on their specialty and to
implement their changes without having to go through one of the others
(i.e., the dreaded ``webmaster bottleneck'').

While it should be easy to develop content, graphics and program code
separately, it should be easy to integrate them together into a
website. In particular, it should be easy:

for programmers to create reusable components and functions that are
accessible and understandable to designers.
for designers to mark out placeholders for content and dynamic
components in their templates.
for designers to soft-code aspects of their design that are either
repeated in several places or are subject to change.
for designers to reuse and extend existing templates and thus minimize
duplication of effort and code.
and, of course, for content writers to use the templates that
designers have created.