Vlad Dogaru <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello, > > I would like to learn web scripting with Python (sure, everyone uses > PHP, but I don't like the syntax and Python is more general-purpose > and... well, I guess you people know the advantages better than me). > Where can I get a thorough introduction to both CGI and using Python > for CGI? That includes installing my own web server (at home, for > testing) and starting from scratch (by that I mean I have near null > experience with CGI). > > I have tried looking through the source code of MoinMoin, but it's just > too advanced for me -- I simply don't know where to start. Right now, > I'll take any and all suggestions. However, please suggest books or > articles that are up-to-date on Python programming; I'd hate to see > that I'm studying obsolete texts or the like.
In terms of learning, Steve Holden's "Python Web Programming" is still unbeatable -- it teaches you just enough of the many underlying technologies, from HTTP to HTML to relational databases, as well as Python. However, it IS an old version of Python (sigh). But it's very easy to learn the relatively small enhancements to the Python language since the time Steve penned his masterpiece... anything that used to work then still works now, you have better ways to perform many tasks (particularly thanks to additions to the standard library, and third party extension modules matured in the meantime) but those are easy to learn "afterwards" (and meanwhile, a solid understanding of the basics of, say, HTTP and entity-relation design, will stand you in good stead for years and years to come!-). Steve's book is really the best you can get, for "learning" purposes such as yours. However...L If you insist on getting coverage of the latest and greatest version of Python, you might want to get the 2nd edition of my "Python in a Nutshell", due out later this month; it strives to cover Python 2.5 (also due out later this month;-) as well as 2.4 (the still-now current version, on which the new Nutshel focuses), and does have a chapter specifically on CGI (not much changed from the first edition's, of course, since CGI itself has not changed much over the years;-). To have a look at my book (and just about any other O'Reilly book... and not just O'Reilly either!) for free, subscribe to O'Reilly's "Safari" online library -- I believe the first two weeks are free, so, as long as you cancel in time, you should not have to pay a penny for the privilege; thus, it may be a good idea (I personally like having access to said library for searches etc, but that's a separate issue). It will be a while before the 2nd edition gets online -- but as I said the CGI part is basically unchanged anyway. But, talking of web resources...: A Google search for Python CGI gives you 20 million hits, and quite a few of those appear to be good tutorials on the subject -- why don't you give those a try, first? Sure, most of the pages will be using older versions of Python -- but most of the differences should be of little importance. One crucial one: you *DO* want to use the cgitb auxiliary module to get good tracebacks in case of errors, and older sites may not mention it -- however, that's pretty simple indeed...: import cgitb; cgitb.enable() just place this line at the very top of your CGI script (after the "shebang" line and the docstring, heh:-) and you're all set. Any further info you need for "advanced" usage of cgitb is in one tiny page at <http://docs.python.org/lib/module-cgitb.html>. Alex -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list