[Tutor] in-memory pysqlite databases

[Alan Gauld]

"Dinesh B Vadhia" <dineshbvadhia at hotmail.com> wrote 

> Why do you say: "Now you didn't mention webpy before, 
> that makes a big difference!" ?

Because any time you change the operating environment 
different rules apply. That's not a Python thing that's true 
of all programming languages. If you operate in a particular 
environment (embedded systems, web, GUI, RDBMS etc) 
then a new set of constraints will apply.

<rant on> 
> as soon as you include external libraries 
> (eg. Numpy, Scipy, webpy - and probably other web 
> frameworks etc. etc.) things start to fall apart (badly!).  

It's not so much that they fall apart but they expect the 
user to understand the operating environment and model 
and the dependencies that they are based on. Again, this is 
true of most languages, once you leave the standard 
model behind you have to work with the library's constraints.

To pick the webpy example, it is one of several Python 
web frameworks, but its not one I have used. I've used 
Zope(briefly! - too heavy for me), TurboGears (I like it a lot) 
and am currently toying with Django (which seems promising).
But I've also used raw CGI and the Java JSP/Struts framework
and frankly they are all broadly similar in concept. The 
differences in framework are minor compared to the differences 
between web programming and CLI programming.

Of course in the Open Source world many of these Frameworks 
are less than perfectly documented. One of my primary 
selection criteria for any Framework but especially 
OpenvSource is that there must be good quality 
(and preferrably independantly written dead tree type) 
documentation. Without that you will be expected to 
learn by example and experiment rather than from 
a properly written specification, so you expect some 
pain. But then again, it diodn't cost you any $$$ so 
you pay in another way... Time is money etc.

-- 
Alan Gauld
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld