On Thu, 27 Jul 2000, Erich L. Markert wrote:
> OK, I'm nearing the end of one project so I'm able to take a look at new
> solutions so one question comes to mind. What does the template toolkit
> offer above and beyond HTML::Embperl or some other templating solution?
Well, keep in mind that TT does not try to provide an entire web
programming framework. It is a templating system only. Neat tricks like
automatic form state in Embperl are not built into it.
However, it has a very complete syntax for dealing with templating, and is
easy for HTML coders who don't know perl to use. Programming with it is
usually as simple as dumping some data into a structure (which can be as
complex as you nedd it to be) and passing it to TT. The new version is
very fast, and it has a nice plugin framework for adding your own
extensions to it.
If you favor the idea of totally separating your HTML and perl code, this
is a great tool. If you like mixing perl and HTML, PHP-style, the
additional features in Embperl or Apache::ASP will probably make those a
better choice.
> On a side note, wouldn't the mod_perl community be better served
> focusing on one of these solutions and building upon it and creating a
> mod_perl based application server much like Python has Zope?
There's an interesting project called Iaido (formerly Iaijutsu) which can
be found here: http://sourceforge.net/project/?group_id=8376
Personally, I tend to agree with Nicholas Petreley
(http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-07/f_lw-07-penguin_2.html) that
Zope is no panacea.
- Perrin
