Write web apps in Python?

[Bryan]

Bruno wrote:
> Bryan a écrit :
> > I think you guys got some incorrect info about PHP. A variety of
> > execution options are available, such as FastCGI and in-server
> > modules.
>
> mod_php, yes, but that doesn't change anything to the fact that it has
> to rebuild the whole world on each and every request. Not the same as a
> true long-running process.

> So, yes, you COULD write a cli PHP app, daemonize it, and add a mod_php
> / FastCGI / whatever request handler to interface the cli app with the
> web server, but that would be kinda pointless, wouldn't it ?

I think I see what you mean -- correct me if I'm wrong: You want to
keep complex application data structures around between requests. That
sounds appealing in terms of efficiency, but it's bad for scalability
and robustness.

> > PHP frameworks generally allow and encourage application code
> > to be independent of the underlying plumbing.
>
> This is debatable at best. PHP code (except cli PHP code of course) is
> written without any care for persistent global state, concurrency
> issues, race conditions etc - because it's written with the idea that
> the code serving a request will be runned in total isolation. CGI
> heritage here, obviously.

No, that's good web-app structure, regardless of language and server
interface. If we keep persistent global state in a shared database
rather than program variables, then we can run the app in multiple
processes and, if our service hits the big time, multiple hosts.


> And please note I'm not criticizing this
> design- just pointing one of it's consequences.
>
> > Many large,
> > sophisticated, high-volume web apps are in PHP.
>
> Did anyone pretend otherwise ?

How about this howler: "The PHP execution model (mostly based on CGI
FWIW) tends to be a bit unpractical for non-trivial applications".


--
--Bryan