Could a single web framework popularize Python?

[Ian Bicking]

On Wednesday, October 8, 2003, at 03:47 PM, Dave Benjamin wrote:
> I guess it'd help to have a definition for what a web framework really 
> is.
> When I was working with mod_python a lot, I definitely had some
> infrastructure to build, but it wasn't massive. It was basically a
> combination of the following:
>
>   - database interface
>   - session handling
>   - cookie support (mostly already in the standard Python libs)
>   - templating
>   - publisher module (url->function mapping)
>   - assorted libraries (xml, imaging, etc.)

A framework is the stuff piece that fits those all together (of 
course!) -- at least that fits the literal concept of "framework", and 
also works in practice pretty well.  Typically a framework also 
provides some of those pieces too, but that's often a matter of 
convenience.  E.g., Webware includes a PSP (template) plugin, but it is 
distinct from the framework and does not exclude other templates.  
Collecting (and when necessary building) components is a packaging 
issue -- but packaging is extremely important, especially when you are 
starting with Python web programming.

> So, I'd say about half of the "framework" was available as Python 
> libraries
> (either built-in or third-party), and the main gaping holes were 
> session
> handling and templating. Since then, both of these are also available 
> as
> third-party modules.
>
> Maybe Python doesn't have ONE_TRUE_FRAMEWORK because you have a choice 
> in a
> lot of these different domains. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise. 
> It does
> require that you think and actively make decisions about your 
> architecture.

This diversity also keeps people from sharing.  There is no significant 
sharing between people using different frameworks.  With the number of 
frameworks out there that means that our efforts are very diluted.  
Really only one framework (Zope) has critical mass.  And Zope 3 is 
reaching out the rest of the Python world -- it would be nice if we 
reached back.  (Whoever "we" are...)

But we don't have to eschew diversity to achieve interoperability.  We 
do have to try, though, because it won't happen on its own, and it 
hasn't happened so far.

--
Ian Bicking | ianb at colorstudy.com | http://blog.ianbicking.org