python as a web glue ?

[francois lepoutre]

> thanks, so i'll try python...

Welcome onboard:)

> do you know of any already existing project
> using mod_python to friendly start on this subject ?

You could possibly try the publisher architecture within mod_python itself.
It's a a nice and clean way to deliver content. But be sure to read the
mod_python documentation at least twice.  It's ok but a bit short.

> and are there any special tricks to use external programs for python page
> serving ? i mean : cgi get a request, then launches another "third part
non
> cgi program" waits for response and then serves page builded from this 3rd
> part output, i think there are non obvious troubles that i don't even
> imagine now...

Of course the timing may be a pb there. There are ways to
get your user to wait until the page is delivered...  as long
as the timeframe remains acceptable!

In other cases may I imagine you need to organise some kinds
of  pre-fetching and buffering for your third-party stuff.

That's where mod_python helps a lot as you will be able to
keep the stuff in data structures (dictionary, list ...) semi-persistently
loaded within apache-hosted python interpreters.

If should not be too much of a problem on a linux platform.
If you use a win32 platform, you may run into threading issues.
They can be solved.

Look at the explanation on the way to keep database handle
persistent within mod_python.

Trying alternatives in the python world is generally a question
of hours, sometimes days... rarely weeks.

Good luck to you

François