[Tutor] Web programming advice

[Patrick]

Hi Dorje

I am a beginner like you, I can't provide perfect advice but I have been 
working through this same problem for months.

If you use Python CGI you can get started right away with virtually any 
hosting company but the performance is terrible and the Python 
interpreter installed will be terribly old too.

Python web programming generally forces us into frameworks, which most 
people seem happy to use.

There use to be lots of Python frameworks but there are less now. Django 
is the most popular. Turbogears and Pylons have merged now and they 
would be number 2.

I am in the small minority of people who are don't like frameworks. I am 
really struggling to get going with out one. However there are options 
for us too, I will mention them to you but again most people like 
frameworks just fine.

In the old days all these frameworks did the same basic things 
differently. Eventually the WSGi specification was devised so that there 
would be a common base to work from.

You can actually program directly on the WSGI layer. I am trying to do 
this. You get CGI like control(actually better) with high performance 
but there is not that much documentation and I am personally making slow 
progress. If you happen to be an odd ball like me you might want to take 
the long route too and have a look at this. Once you understand WSGI you 
will likely understand frameworks better too.

Everyone seems to like frameworks but consider this,

According to this article there have been changes to 350K lines of code 
in Django:
http://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2008/sep/03/1/

I am sure this is an awesomely powerful framework but how the hell does 
anyone understand the magic under the cover with so many lines of code? 
Are you really programming in Python or are you programming in Django now?

Please also watch this youtube episode, a talk by Turbogears Mark Ramm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fipFKyW2FA4&feature=PlayList&p=D415FAF806EC47A1&index=12

Check out the dependency graph for Django, it gives me chills.

After I learn WSGI I can program without dependencies and I am looking 
forward to it despite the tediousness that I am sure will also come with 
working at this level.

Please also see Werkzeug and Paste. They are tools to help program at 
the WSGI level.

There are many, many people who can offer better guidance then me but if 
you have any further questions please ask, I really want to help-Patrick




According to this article:
http://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2008/sep/03/1/ over 350K lines of code

dorje tarap wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I would really like to learn about using python for creating a website
> from scratch to allow me to learn about web programming and python.
>
> I have zero experience of web programming, and some limited exposure
> to python. Can someone recommend a book or resource that will
> introduce me to web programming.
>
> Thanks
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