SD Times: And Then Came Zope

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"The unofficial (but very good) Zope FAQ at http://weblogs.userland.com/zopeNewbies/ZopeFAQ/ describes Zope as a Web publishing system, although acknowledging that it is also widely called an application server. I think Zope is a language for programmatic Web sites. Not a language that can be called by Web sites and not a server-side scripting language, it?s the Visual Basic of Web programming (or, if you prefer a more correct but less accessible metaphor, the SQLWindows of Web programming). Like those seminal Windows programming tools, Zope immerses you in the environment for which you?re programming, in Zope?s case, the Web. To work in Zope, you work from a browser displaying HTML 3.0 code?not exactly Visual Studio, but at least it?s operating system-and location-independent."

"At the heart of Zope, and what makes it more than just another server-side scripting language, is an object-oriented database (which you can back with a relational database such as MySQL, SQL Server or Oracle). This OODB contains ?Z Objects? (+ ?Publishing Environment? = ?ZOPE?), the most important of which are page templates (written in a server-side scripting language called Document Template Markup Language) and extension objects (?Products?) that are generally written in a combination of DTML and Python. The most impressive Zope Product is surely Squishdot (www.squishdot.org), which allows one to create a Slashdot-style Web site in an afternoon." At the heart of Zope, and what makes it more than just another server-side scripting language, is an object-oriented database (which you can back with a relational database such as MySQL, SQL Server or Oracle).

"The open-source Zope compares favorably, very favorably, with the most expensive application servers in the marketplace. Do yourself a favor and check out Zope and Python. And if you find yourself playing with them just for the sheer fun of it, don?t tell anyone you read about them in SD Times. We?re far too serious a newspaper to encourage such things."