On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 6:37 AM, Anthony <av201...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I am brand new to web application development, and I'm looking for a > good web framework to learn in order to build a new web application > (sort of a personal task/project management system). I want it to look > (and act) like a serious, polished, state-of-the-art Web 2.0 site/app > (i.e., not amateurish or out-dated). I've got some experience with > website building, HTML, CSS, and a little javascript. I don't have any > experience with server-side coding, but I do have general programming > experience (i.e., not web/internet related) as well as some experience > with relational databases and SQL. >
Server side code in web2py is all Python. This makes it very easy to learn and use. The DAL (Database Abstraction Layer) is very easy to use (but you must read about it, www.web2py.com/book is more than enough to get up to speed. The templating code is also pure Python (with very few little twists). Note that you can use other ORMs or templating engines, if you which (loosing some benefits though). > > I'm looking for a framework that will be relatively easy to learn, > though I'm just as concerned with how easy it is to go through the > learning process (i.e., find well-organized documentation, tutorials, > examples, community support, etc.) as with the conceptual simplicity/ > easiness of the framework itself (i.e., I don't mind learning > something hard if I've got good learning resources). > Web2py makes as easy as py! There have been some issues about spread documentation in the past. But since the book went online (the same book that is published) everyone got a premier resource for most questions. Other relevant sources are: http://www.web2py.com/book http://wiki.web2py.com/Home http://www.web2py.com/examples/default/examples http://www.web2py.com/AlterEgo/ http://www.web2pyslices.com/ http://web2py.com/appliances/ http://web2py.com/plugins/ http://www.web2py.com/examples/static/epydoc/ Don't forget this list :-) If you google you also find other peoples sites and blogs that are sometimes useful. > > Also, rather than creating everything from scratch, I'm hoping to rely > as much as possible on existing libraries, plug-ins, applications, > examples, etc. So, a framework that's compatible with as large a > universe as possible of existing solutions would be ideal. I'm also > planning to link to various web service API's (e.g., Google Calendar). > web2py comes with jQuery bundled in. But you can easily replace it for another ajax framework. But you can take advantage of other solutions. You can integrate Pyjamas, Flex, YUI, etc... Most of these have some example (most likely in one or more of the links supplied above). > From what I've read, web2py sounds like a great framework -- > comprehensive, well-integrated, easy to set up, learn, and deploy, > etc. A nice thing is that it is pretty easy and simple to make something with existing resources and then extend these as you upgrade or polish up your solution. For example, Validators will solve most of your database and Form validation demands, but it is very example to come up with your own validator for, per example, validating an autocomplete widget (which you can develop or use from an existing library). > However, although it sounds good on paper, I haven't yet found a > single site built with web2py that looks all that impressive (at least > superficially). It's easy to find quite a number of sophisticated and > impressive looking sites/apps built with Ruby on Rails and Django, but > I haven't seen anything remotely comparable based on web2py. I'm > wondering why the disparity. Is it simply that web2py is a relative > newcomer and has a small user base, or does web2py have some inherent > limitations that make it less than ideal for building polished, larger > scale web apps? In other words, could a site like Basecamp > (www.basecamphq.com) be built just as easily with web2py as with ROR, > or is web2py not really suited for that level of development? > Yes, definitively. I'm in the process of finishing something similar for an intranet. Regarding scalability, evidence suggests that web2py is more scalable than most solutions. > > I'm also wondering about the long term viability of web2py. I don't > want to adopt a framework that ends up fizzling out in a couple years. > Is web2py on an upward trajectory, or is its future uncertain? For > example, I notice that the web2py-developers group has only about one > tenth as many members as even the Pylons and TurboGears developer > groups (and one one hundreth as many as ROR and Django). Is web2py too > dependent on just one or two key developers who may lose interest over > time? > Massimo already answered this. But I've been using web2py from the beginning, have a site running on it with absolutely no problems. Upgrading to a new release is as simple as (well just import you old app in a new release) - you cannot over estimate the value of Backward compatibility. The web interface is great for quick fishes and upgrading your app (you can inclusively import it with a different name and have people tests without stopping the production instance). > Any insights and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks. >
