Could a single web framework popularize Python?

[Dave Benjamin]

In article <mailman.1065557652.13535.python-list at python.org>, Ian Bicking wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 7, 2003, at 07:10 AM, Alex Martelli wrote:
>> Twisted comprises both lower and higher levels.  E.g., see
>> http://www.twistedmatrix.com/services/twisted-advantage
> 
> Twisted is more like Apache or mod_python than a web framework.  Woven 
> is a framework built on top of Twisted, and the closest thing to The 
> Twisted Web Framework.
> 
> Working directly with Twisted is like writing Python CGI scripts.  
> Sure, it works, but it's not a "framework".  Of course, you can build a 
> framework on top of it (and you probably will be accident if not 
> intention).

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.)
  
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.

Dave

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