WSGI - How Does It Affect Me?

[Sybren Stuvel]

Gregory Piñero enlightened us with:
> So I keep hearing more and more about this WSGI stuff, and honestly I
> still don't understand what it is exactly

AFAIK it's a standard for web frameworks. In such a framework, you
receive a 'request' object, and return a 'response' object. If I'm
correct, the WSGI describes things like the method and property names
on those objects etc.

> What I'm most confused about is how it affects me.  I've been writing
> small CGI programs in Python for a while now whenever I have a need
> for a web program.  Is CGI now considered "Bad"?

I've never considered CGI bad, but I do consider it to be a hassle to
make anything non-trivial. If you want a website with template engine,
web-based database admin, and automatic form generation and
validation, it's easier to use an existing web framework.

> What is the equivalent of a quick CGI script in WSGI, or do I have
> to use a framework even for that?

I'd simply use CGI for that.

> What do I do if frameworks don't meet my needs and I don't have a
> desire to program my own?

That depends on the needs I guess.

> Examples of how frameworks don't meet my needs sometimes:
> 1. Working with SQL Server (Most frameworks seem to at least make it
> extra work)

I've never seen a framework that's unable to work with an SQL server.

> 2. Need web app to get data from other programs via API (eg
> QuickBooks) Can any web framework work happily with win32
> extensions?

You can use any module you want in a Django view, including win32.

> 3. Using IIS at all for that matter, does WSGI work on IIS, do any
> frameworks?

Why would you want to use that monstrosity?

Sybren
-- 
Sybren Stüvel
Stüvel IT - http://www.stuvel.eu/