Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
On Sun, Dec 4, 2011 at 06:12, Sareesh Sudhakaran ays...@hotmail.com wrote: I have a personal project - a web application I wanted to develop - but I'm confused on which route to take. I am not under any time constraint. Your case is complex and the answer is non-obvious. I think you will have to try to see. The best I can describe it is as a kind of expert system (but not AI) that needs to find the best workflow for a process, given a set of initial and final parameters. E.g. a 'capsule' of data must pass through many 'tools' or 'environments' to reach a desired output - something like a very complicated car wash. Let's say there are many tools that can be used at various stages in the process. I have estimated there are at least 500 tools as of now, and it is bound to grow in the future as newer tools are introduced. Existing tools will also have version updates. Each tool, on average, has at least 100 properties that define the tool. This kind of complexity and flexibility that your case has does lend itself well to the ZODB. But it is by no means impossible to do in a relational database. What you would need to do here if you did this in SQL is to have one table for the tools, and one table for the properties, and one table that for each tool and property has a value. This might be a bit complex to use of you use an ORM, but it should be doable. problem of 'matching' the tools for analysis. E.g. Tool A might have only three fixed rpms - 100, 200 and 500, but Tool B might have rpms from 20 to 2000. I'm not sure how I can construct a database without spelling out each number, as in the example above. Well, if you want to search for a specific RPM range it does get complicated, because then you probably want to store the RPM values as integers. And that means that you in the property table needs to have several columns depending on the value type. If the property needs text, you need to fetch it from the text column. If the property is an integer you need to fetch it from the integer column. If the property is a reference to another table, because it is a multi-select property with a limited set, you need to fetch it from a column for that, which in turn refers to another table with the actual values. This *does* get very complex very quickly. Of course, the ZODB has few such problems. Will the app be better served with a relational DB like mySQL or an Object database? After a lot of research I've guessed that my particular case might be better served with Python and Zope/ZODB. But I might be wrong? Maybe PHP+mySQL or Django is a better fit? First of all, find yourself a web-framework you like. Then use that. Most likely, that framework is going to limit you to using SQL. There are frameworks that don't specifically Pyramid integrates nicely with ZODB and hence gives you a choice. Then I would simply try to see if you are able to model the data in SQL at all, or if you dig yourself into unholy complexity. That should not take more than a couple of days of work to figure that out, if you concentrate on building a database and filling it with real or realistic data. If you don't dig yourself into a hole, the go with SQL, since that's what you know. If you do, try to build the model with ZODB and see of that works better for you. The ZODB might very well be the right choice here. But note that Zope is not. Zope was a trailblazer in the web framework world that's been around for 15 years now, and has as a result made some choices which turned out to not be the best ones in the long run, and accumulated a lot of cruft. There is work on fixing this, but that will take time, and the framework will be in a great flux during that time. As a result, Zope is not currently a good choice if you start a project. As languages go, Python rules. As web frameworks go, there are more Python frameworks than you can shake a stick at. I'd recommend either Django (because there are so many people using it, you will be able to find help ) or Pyramid (because it's really cool and supports ZODB well). //Lennart ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Thank you all for your replies. I have an idea on how to begin: I'll go with mySQL and see how it works out. I will use both PHP and Python for the prototype. My issue no longer fits within the scope of this mailing list. Without your support it would have been impossible for me to get started. Thanks!sareesh ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
On 12/04/2011 09:56 PM, Fernando Martins wrote: On 12/04/2011 09:31 PM, John Schinnerer wrote: In any case, this looks (to me anyhow) like a very object-oriented system you are modeling so an object oriented approach and language would seem most suitable. And how would you create (and update) objects in Python for: at least 500 tools as of now, and it is bound to grow in the future as newer tools are introduced. Existing tools will also have version updates. Each tool, on average, has at least 100 properties that define the tool. Some of them have as high as 1000 unique properties. How familiar are you with OOP? What I mean is, when I read your high-level description of what you want to do, I imagine objects interacting with other. In your car wash example I see that, for instance. Or any kind of work-flow, which is what this sounds like to me. A state machine. Each tool is an object; it knows what its properties and abilities and possible states are and can communicate them to other objects and can accept and act on communication from other objects. In that way the objects interact with one another to do whatever it is you build them to do. I'm thinking of your car wash metaphor. In a car wash there are a variety of elements (objects) that communicate with one another to move the car through and to wash it as it moves through. Simple example: * mechanism that pulls or pushes the car through * mechanism that sprays it with water and soap * mechanism that scrubs and wipes and rubs it * mechanism that sprays it with rinse water * drying mechanism(s) These all need to signal one another so they do the right thing at the right time. Spray (or scrub or blow hot air) only when the car is in the right place for each. If some tools can be built by adding to/extending other tools, that is an object-friendly situation, since enhancing an existing tool to make another that you need saves you having to create all tools from scratch. In the car wash, maybe the different sized scrubbers used are all made by bolting together two or more of the smallest size scrubber. Maybe in parallel, maybe in series, depends on what is needed. Maybe the same scrubber controller can have different size brushes attached to it. In short, an object - tool - is code and data that interacts with other tools (other entities of code and data). An upgrade to a tool would involve changing the code and/or data that constitutes the tool. If that introduces some new way of interacting that other tools need to also know, then you add that to those tools also. Adding more tools means coding them. If they can be based on existing tools, so much the easier (and more object-appropriate). So that's some high-level information about an object-oriented approach to what I think your project is about. Tthe flexibility you appear to need as the system grows may be problematic for an RDB. And, my bias is OO, so perhaps someone who thinks in RDB-space can describe at high level how this would look in an RDB implmentation. cheers, John S. -- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration j...@eco-living.net http://eco-living.net ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Am Sonntag, 4. Dezember 2011, 16:15:13 schrieben Sie: As you mentioned, if I have to use mySQL, isn't it better for me to go with PHP+mySQL - easier to learn and deploy? ...just from my experience: PHP is - for different, but mainly technical/historical reasons - very widely spread within web applications, one major reason was/is i.e. the large (because easy) availability on low cost hosting environments in the past - but the most advantages was/are on the side of the hosting providers PHP might be easier to learn then other languages or frameworks, but maintaining large / complex applications / software projects within PHP could be a real mess. We develop nearly any web application with Zope / ZODB since = 10 years but are a hosting company byself - so we was not bound to PHP as many other internet hosting users in the past. A colleagues company produces very high level expert systems on Perl and Catalyst - requiring high skilled Perl programmers. From my experience developing within Zope / ZODB (with Python, DTML and/or ZPT) allows very high quality products within very short timeframes and even further maintaining the project is relative ressource efficient - especially compared to PHP. Most web application data structures (i.e. a simple web page) fit's much better by a oo object strategy then a relational (RDBMS) one. The major typical ressource hole within typical PHP+SQL web applications or i.e. a CMS solution is the translation of typical data objects into tables and vice versa. Producing i.e. one simple CMS page within a PHP-SQL CMS easily could trigger hundreds of SQL requests into many different tables - a significant overhead which has to implemented by developers and handled by the machines. But this is my view onto the issue - just my two cents... cheers, Niels. -- --- Niels Dettenbach Syndicat ITInternet http://www.syndicat.com/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part. ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
On Dec 5, 2011 09:48 John Schinnerer j...@eco-living.net wrote: On 12/04/2011 09:56 PM, Fernando Martins wrote: On 12/04/2011 09:31 PM, John Schinnerer wrote: In any case, this looks (to me anyhow) like a very object-oriented system you are modeling so an object oriented approach and language would seem most suitable. And how would you create (and update) objects in Python for: at least 500 tools as of now, and it is bound to grow in the future as newer tools are introduced. Existing tools will also have version updates. Each tool, on average, has at least 100 properties that define the tool. Some of them have as high as 1000 unique properties. How familiar are you with OOP? I think you are confusing me with the OP. And you did not answer my question. Are you recommending that a programmer codes all these objects by hand in Python? The know-how of what constitutes a tool, their properties and even the tool selection criteria is not developer know-how. Therefore, this information should be defined outside the program in way that the tool expert(s) can manage it. Which leads us to some storage solution, an RDB being the most common. Since, as I pointed out before, SQL most likely would not be able to do the tool selection alone, Python would merely load the data from the external source and create objects and expertise on the fly. Anyway, I agree with you that the main issue does not seem to be the web publishing solution, but rather how to represent the tool information and how to do tool selection, which is off-topic. Regards, Fernando ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Hi NielsI agree with you, even though I have no experience. But I'm restricted by hosting options for Zope at the moment, and will revert to Python once the project is deployed - and when I figure out whether mySQL is good enough or not. I hate having to type all those extra characters in php though.sareesh From: n...@syndicat.com To: ays...@hotmail.com; zope@zope.org Subject: Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 11:25:18 +0100 Am Sonntag, 4. Dezember 2011, 16:15:13 schrieben Sie: As you mentioned, if I have to use mySQL, isn't it better for me to go with PHP+mySQL - easier to learn and deploy? ...just from my experience: PHP is - for different, but mainly technical/historical reasons - very widely spread within web applications, one major reason was/is i.e. the large (because easy) availability on low cost hosting environments in the past - but the most advantages was/are on the side of the hosting providers PHP might be easier to learn then other languages or frameworks, but maintaining large / complex applications / software projects within PHP could be a real mess. We develop nearly any web application with Zope / ZODB since = 10 years but are a hosting company byself - so we was not bound to PHP as many other internet hosting users in the past. A colleagues company produces very high level expert systems on Perl and Catalyst - requiring high skilled Perl programmers. From my experience developing within Zope / ZODB (with Python, DTML and/or ZPT) allows very high quality products within very short timeframes and even further maintaining the project is relative ressource efficient - especially compared to PHP. Most web application data structures (i.e. a simple web page) fit's much better by a oo object strategy then a relational (RDBMS) one. The major typical ressource hole within typical PHP+SQL web applications or i.e. a CMS solution is the translation of typical data objects into tables and vice versa. Producing i.e. one simple CMS page within a PHP-SQL CMS easily could trigger hundreds of SQL requests into many different tables - a significant overhead which has to implemented by developers and handled by the machines. But this is my view onto the issue - just my two cents... cheers, Niels. -- --- Niels Dettenbach Syndicat ITInternet http://www.syndicat.com/ ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Am Montag, 5. Dezember 2011, 11:37:46 schrieb Sareesh Sudhakaran: But I'm restricted by hosting options for Zope at the moment, and will revert to Python once the project is deployed - and when I figure out whether mySQL is good enough or not. I hate having to type all those extra characters in php though.sareesh If i talk about Zope / Python i mean Zope (with Zope Python Script Objects and/or external (Python) Methods). At a earlier stage Zope devels discussed for integrating ingres or another RDBMS natively into Zope - but this is not longer the case as there are many Zope adapters / integrations / products available for different major RDBMS like MySQL or Postgres. For the data structures where you have to handle large tables MySQL would be the first choice while oo data structures would preferrably go into your ZODB. I.e. we handle large amounts of user data records within MySQL while all of the web content objects or even complex shopping products are handled within ZODB - both within the same Shopping Cart application. This all depends highly from you data model. By theory you are able to handle both in just on of the DB solutions. With Zope you have many options to use external database solutions within your Zope based application. best regards, Niels. -- --- Niels Dettenbach Syndicat ITInternet http://www.syndicat.com/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part. ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
On Dec 5, 2011 10:25 Niels Dettenbach n...@syndicat.com wrote: From my experience developing within Zope / ZODB (with Python, DTML and/or ZPT) allows very high quality products within very short timeframes and even further maintaining the project is relative ressource efficient - especially compared to PHP. How would you put 500+ objects (for the tools) each with hundreds or thousands of attributes in in ZODB? Regards, Fernando ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Thanks AJ. I assumed an OODBMS would be the right choice because of the object nature of my 'tools'. Of course, it was an assumption. Instead of Pyramid+RDBMS, can I use PHP+mySQL (my current hosting provider supports this).If ZODB isn't for my project, then would a GraphDB help? I have no idea on where to start with Graph DB - I've read the wikis and it's made me more confused. -ss Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2011 08:40:28 +0100 From: li...@zopyx.com To: ays...@hotmail.com CC: zope@zope.org Subject: Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 - From reading: your database model appears pretty much relational. Where would you take advantages from using Zope as framework? This sounds like a task for Pyramid + RDBMS or a graph DB. - -aj Sareesh Sudhakaran wrote: I have a personal project - a web application I wanted to develop - but I'm confused on which route to take. I am not under any time constraint. *About the App:* The best I can describe it is as a kind of expert system (but not AI) that needs to find the best workflow for a process, given a set of initial and final parameters. E.g. a 'capsule' of data must pass through many 'tools' or 'environments' to reach a desired output - something like a very complicated car wash. Let's say there are many tools that can be used at various stages in the process. I have estimated there are at least 500 tools as of now, and it is bound to grow in the future as newer tools are introduced. Existing tools will also have version updates. Each tool, on average, has at least 100 properties that define the tool. Some of them have as high as 1000 unique properties. Some of these tools are linked to each other - e.g if one tool is selected, there are only n tools that can correspond to it for the next step in the process. I also have the problem of 'matching' the tools for analysis. E.g. Tool A might have only three fixed rpms - 100, 200 and 500, but Tool B might have rpms from 20 to 2000. I'm not sure how I can construct a database without spelling out each number, as in the example above. The total number of tools needed for the process can be defined at the beginning, however, it will change as the application becomes more complex in the future. I plan to address every contingency in the process. The idea is - if the user inputs the initial parameters and the desired outcome (another set of parameters), the app must find the 'best' path - sort of like a decision tree. The best path can be the fastest, cheapest, etc. I would like the user to choose what is best for him/her. Unfortunately, parameters might change, relationships might change (but not regularly) - the 'rules' I will be using might be revised for better accuracy in prediction. I also need to track each user's path and solutions' for future reference (but no personal details except username and email address for logging in). Maybe when the app is up and running, I'd like to make it more democratic, with users contributing to refining the logic/rules involved. If possible, I would also like the app to output a graphical flowchart at the end showing the workflow with all tools grouped in an easy to understand layout. *My questions:* 1. Will the app be better served with a relational DB like mySQL or an Object database? After a lot of research I've guessed that my particular case might be better served with Python and Zope/ZODB. But I might be wrong? Maybe PHP+mySQL or Django is a better fit? 2. Can anyone provide general advice on how to go about beginning such a project in ZOPE. Which is the best place to start learning for a newbie? 3. Can anyone recommend a good shared hosting provider that supports Zope fully but is not expensive? 4. Is there a module or app that is open source that I can use to output a graphical flowchart based on the results, or will I be better served programming it from scratch with Python? I would appreciate any help in getting started. Thank you in advance. I have tried most online forums but have not good any productive answers. Most of the answers I got were pro-PHP+mySQL. Adam ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev ) - -- ZOPYX Limited | zopyx group Charlottenstr. 37/1 | The full-service network for Zope Plone D-72070 Tübingen| Produce Publish www.zopyx.com | www.produce-and-publish.com - E-Publishing, Python, Zope Plone development, Consulting
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Thanks Niels. Just to clarify:Does my particular instance fall under an OODBMS model or a RDBMS model (with ORM if necessary)? I will begin by reading the Zope Book. Thanks for your assistance. Appreciate it. -ss Subject: Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App From: n...@syndicat.com Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2011 09:24:10 +0100 To: ays...@hotmail.com; zope@zope.org -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA256 Sareesh Sudhakaran ays...@hotmail.com schrieb: My questions:Will the app be better served with a relational DB like mySQL or an Object database? After a lot of research I've guessed that my particular case might be better served with Python and Zope/ZODB. But I might be wrong? Maybe PHP+mySQL or Django is a better fit?Can anyone provide general advice on how to go about beginning such a project in ZOPE. This hardly depends from your data structure, but with Zope you have the option to use ZODB and SQL DBs like MySQL in parallel. Typical relational data should go into a SQLDB while complex / oo Data structures should go into ZODB. We developed several complex to very complex web based applications - incl. expert systems - on Zope ZODB plus MySQL. I can't believe that someone would be able to solve such issues with PHP/SQL within the same time / ressources. Which is the best place to start learning for a newbie? You should start by trying the short zope practice / excercise as described in the Zope book. The Zope Book should be the best source for getting into Zope step by step from nothing. ß) Can anyone recommend a good shared hosting provider that supports Zope fully but is not expensive? Looking for zope hosting or similiar in google should advice you. Our company - as one of many - offers Zope hosting to. Is there a module or app that is open source that I can use to output a graphical flowchart based on the results, or will I be better served programming it from scratch with Python? There are different modules as i.e. Python Imaging (PIL) and higher level modules. I would appreciate any help in getting started. Thank you in advance. I have tried most online forums but have not good any productive answers. Most of the answers I got were pro-PHP+mySQL. Yes, because the peoples did not know anything other solution usually... cheers, Niels. - -- Niels Dettenbach Syndicat ITInternet http://www.syndicat.com -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: APG v1.0.8 iIEEAREIAEEFAk7bLio6HE5pZWxzIERldHRlbmJhY2ggKFN5bmRpY2F0IElUJklu dGVybmV0KSA8bmRAc3luZGljYXQuY29tPgAKCRBU3ERlZRyiDUhlAJ4/XPl3Oet6 XN4UlkQ611FNoWqZCwCfZ1IPVjaLMD32wOlFE9cDnrm6bJQ= =ukyi -END PGP SIGNATURE- ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
On 12/04/2011 09:52 AM, Sareesh Sudhakaran wrote: Thanks Niels. Just to clarify: Does my particular instance fall under an OODBMS model or a RDBMS model (with ORM if necessary)? Data modelling is a bit of an art and probably you could tackle your problem with any approach. I think the important is for you to figure out which model suits more your personality. No kidding. I would personally start with the RDBMS approach considering only the information you provide. Also, you can easily use zope in combination with a RDBMS. When you read the book, beware that zope has been changing from a through the web approach, to a typical file system based approach, which is a loss, but it seems to be what suits the needs of the zope developers. The approach I use is: zpt page - (one) Python Script - (some) ZSQL Methods - MySQL The zpt defines the layout of the pages, the ZSQL Methods retrieve the data needed and the Python script massages the data to make it suitable for the ZPT page. Or the other way around, from user input in a form to storage in the database. The advantage of the relational approach is that it is a very well understood model and although different people will still come to different models there are sufficient objective guidelines out there (e.g., the normalization rules, and then criteria for when to denormalise) to help you along. Furthermore, there are lots of people in db-related forums that can help you. Also, RDBMS provides you with a standard query language, SQL, which plenty of systems and tools can use. In general, RDBMS gives you the safest approach to keep your data and not loose it when you need to migrate either the front-end or the back-end. This language is very powerful and can avoid you a lot of low level programming. However, plenty of people can not deal well with SQL because it follows a paradigm so different from the classic imperative programming. With SQL, you specify the what, with the other languages you specify the how. The advantage of the what is that you can do a lot of data processing in a few lines of code. The problem with the what is that because you don't know the how of it, you feel you don't have control and you are led to say the language is obscure or unreadable. However, even if you are not comfortable with the what (you have to try to know), you can still rely on an library like SQLAlchemy to keep you a bit in the comfort zone of the how. So instead of learning SQL, you need to learn the API of a specific library. Your choice. I recommend the first by far. The real main issue with Relational is that it is a highly structured data model. It allows you to keep high quality data but if you don't get it right soon enough in the development cycle, some later changes can have a huge impact in the application, requiring rewrites. Furthermore, it works the best when you have many objects with the same properties. If you have many entities all different from each other (the tools in your case, maybe), then maybe a OODBMS might be better. But here, there is no standard language, or standard whatever. Perosnally, I would avoid as much as possible to put data in something like ZODB (I use it merely to store and manage the application). The problem with your specific case is that it does not seem to be a typical case of books and authors, which might be a risk for someone without experience. The issue Tool A might have only three fixed rpms - 100, 200 and 500, but Tool B might have rpms from 20 to 2000, is indeed tricky. I suspect in general the needs of your system will be too specific to be able to rely only on SQL queries. You would need to put a lot of intelligence in the data (really highly structured) and it might become unmanageable or not scalable. I guess you will need to put a lot of intelligence in the Python Script. So, the ZSQL retrieves the relevant tool data and then makes the tool choice. The knowledge of the meaning of the attributes is maintained in programming. I should say I am not totally sure the Python Script is the best approach here, in terms of management facilities. But Python is surely a very good language due to its readability. However, you might need to use External methods or a more typical file-system based Python approach. Or maybe you actually need to create a Domain Specific Language to encode the intelligence needed for your tool selection process. If your python code becomes repetitive, with patterns showing up, then a DSL might be a good approach, but this might be too much engineering for you at this stage. It looks like you are in a typical CIM scenario and I remember handling a similar problem 20 years ago. I vaguely remember at that time to use custom graph structures in C and the the intelligence was coded in Lisp/Scheme. So, there is a big range of solutions to try out :) If you have time, then the simple approach zpt page - (one) Python
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Thanks Fernando! I really appreciate the time and effort you have put in answering my query. My personality sides with Python but my hosting provider does not support Django or Zope. As you mentioned, if I have to use mySQL, isn't it better for me to go with PHP+mySQL - easier to learn and deploy? Can I just start out with a framework like Symphony instead? In the future I'll have to use either Python or C/C++ for my business logic and math. But the focus now is to get a prototype out, and if I'm doomed to change everything later I might as well start with the easiest and most obvious. Is this a viable starting point compared to what you have suggested? Or am I missing something? -Sareesh Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2011 13:28:36 +0100 From: ferna...@cmartins.nl To: ays...@hotmail.com CC: n...@syndicat.com; zope@zope.org Subject: Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App On 12/04/2011 09:52 AM, Sareesh Sudhakaran wrote: Thanks Niels. Just to clarify: Does my particular instance fall under an OODBMS model or a RDBMS model (with ORM if necessary)? Data modelling is a bit of an art and probably you could tackle your problem with any approach. I think the important is for you to figure out which model suits more your personality. No kidding. I would personally start with the RDBMS approach considering only the information you provide. Also, you can easily use zope in combination with a RDBMS. When you read the book, beware that zope has been changing from a through the web approach, to a typical file system based approach, which is a loss, but it seems to be what suits the needs of the zope developers. The approach I use is: zpt page - (one) Python Script - (some) ZSQL Methods - MySQL The zpt defines the layout of the pages, the ZSQL Methods retrieve the data needed and the Python script massages the data to make it suitable for the ZPT page. Or the other way around, from user input in a form to storage in the database. The advantage of the relational approach is that it is a very well understood model and although different people will still come to different models there are sufficient objective guidelines out there (e.g., the normalization rules, and then criteria for when to denormalise) to help you along. Furthermore, there are lots of people in db-related forums that can help you. Also, RDBMS provides you with a standard query language, SQL, which plenty of systems and tools can use. In general, RDBMS gives you the safest approach to keep your data and not loose it when you need to migrate either the front-end or the back-end. This language is very powerful and can avoid you a lot of low level programming. However, plenty of people can not deal well with SQL because it follows a paradigm so different from the classic imperative programming. With SQL, you specify the what, with the other languages you specify the how. The advantage of the what is that you can do a lot of data processing in a few lines of code. The problem with the what is that because you don't know the how of it, you feel you don't have control and you are led to say the language is obscure or unreadable. However, even if you are not comfortable with the what (you have to try to know), you can still rely on an library like SQLAlchemy to keep you a bit in the comfort zone of the how. So instead of learning SQL, you need to learn the API of a specific library. Your choice. I recommend the first by far. The real main issue with Relational is that it is a highly structured data model. It allows you to keep high quality data but if you don't get it right soon enough in the development cycle, some later changes can have a huge impact in the application, requiring rewrites. Furthermore, it works the best when you have many objects with the same properties. If you have many entities all different from each other (the tools in your case, maybe), then maybe a OODBMS might be better. But here, there is no standard language, or standard whatever. Perosnally, I would avoid as much as possible to put data in something like ZODB (I use it merely to store and manage the application). The problem with your specific case is that it does not seem to be a typical case of books and authors, which might be a risk for someone without experience. The issue Tool A might have only three fixed rpms - 100, 200 and 500, but Tool B might have rpms from 20 to 2000, is indeed tricky. I suspect in general the needs of your system will be too specific to be able to rely only on SQL queries. You would need to put a lot
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
On 12/04/2011 05:15 PM, Sareesh Sudhakaran wrote: As you mentioned, if I have to use mySQL, isn't it better for me to go with PHP+mySQL - easier to learn and deploy? Can I just start out with a framework like Symphony instead? Well, if all you have is PHP + MySQL in your provider, there is no which is better question, is it? You might want to look at http://phptal.org/ a library that provides a templating system similar to ZPT. The advantage is the better separation between presentation and business layers. Regards, Fernando ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Aloha, Very briefly, from what you describe, it looks like you are dealing with large numbers of complex objects (your 'tools') that interact with each other - and with some other elements that are going through this workflow process? And a context for the process? ...not sure of that part... In any case, this looks (to me anyhow) like a very object-oriented system you are modeling so an object oriented approach and language would seem most suitable. Python is one reasonable language option; zope for the web publishing aspect of the project would fit well with that. I haven't worked with other OO languages enough to usefully compare. It also sounds to me like the web publishing is the lesser part of this...? That is, the workflow of interacting tools is the real 'app' here, a process which does not all get shown somehow on a web page...or does it? Or just the outcomes? LAMP platform is so common and cheap that it's all a lot of people know about. It can be used well, and, it is all too easy to make horrible hacks and Frankestein monster apps in PHP/MySQL. Meaning, a highly structured (yet powerful) OO programming language will support you in avoiding that. Also, for development (or just to explore if python+zope might meet your needs) you don't need any hosting, you can install python+zope on your development system and try it out. best wishes... John S. On 12/03/2011 07:12 PM, Sareesh Sudhakaran wrote: I have a personal project - a web application I wanted to develop - but I'm confused on which route to take. I am not under any time constraint. *About the App:* The best I can describe it is as a kind of expert system (but not AI) that needs to find the best workflow for a process, given a set of initial and final parameters. E.g. a 'capsule' of data must pass through many 'tools' or 'environments' to reach a desired output - something like a very complicated car wash. Let's say there are many tools that can be used at various stages in the process. I have estimated there are at least 500 tools as of now, and it is bound to grow in the future as newer tools are introduced. Existing tools will also have version updates. Each tool, on average, has at least 100 properties that define the tool. Some of them have as high as 1000 unique properties. Some of these tools are linked to each other - e.g if one tool is selected, there are only n tools that can correspond to it for the next step in the process. I also have the problem of 'matching' the tools for analysis. E.g. Tool A might have only three fixed rpms - 100, 200 and 500, but Tool B might have rpms from 20 to 2000. I'm not sure how I can construct a database without spelling out each number, as in the example above. The total number of tools needed for the process can be defined at the beginning, however, it will change as the application becomes more complex in the future. I plan to address every contingency in the process. The idea is - if the user inputs the initial parameters and the desired outcome (another set of parameters), the app must find the 'best' path - sort of like a decision tree. The best path can be the fastest, cheapest, etc. I would like the user to choose what is best for him/her. Unfortunately, parameters might change, relationships might change (but not regularly) - the 'rules' I will be using might be revised for better accuracy in prediction. I also need to track each user's path and solutions' for future reference (but no personal details except username and email address for logging in). Maybe when the app is up and running, I'd like to make it more democratic, with users contributing to refining the logic/rules involved. If possible, I would also like the app to output a graphical flowchart at the end showing the workflow with all tools grouped in an easy to understand layout. *My questions:* 1. Will the app be better served with a relational DB like mySQL or an Object database? After a lot of research I've guessed that my particular case might be better served with Python and Zope/ZODB. But I might be wrong? Maybe PHP+mySQL or Django is a better fit? 2. Can anyone provide general advice on how to go about beginning such a project in ZOPE. Which is the best place to start learning for a newbie? 3. Can anyone recommend a good shared hosting provider that supports Zope fully but is not expensive? 4. Is there a module or app that is open source that I can use to output a graphical flowchart based on the results, or will I be better served programming it from scratch with Python? I would appreciate any help in getting started. Thank you in advance. I have tried most online forums but have not good any productive answers. Most of the answers I got were pro-PHP+mySQL. Adam ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
Thanks Fernando. I would choose ZOPE or Django and a new provider at the drop of a hat - if someone can confirm if that's the way to go. However, since, there are too many grey areas, it might be better if I stuck to what I have and see how things turn out. Once again, thanks for your support. Appreciate it! - Sareesh Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2011 18:19:25 +0100 From: ferna...@cmartins.nl To: ays...@hotmail.com CC: n...@syndicat.com; zope@zope.org Subject: Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App On 12/04/2011 05:15 PM, Sareesh Sudhakaran wrote: As you mentioned, if I have to use mySQL, isn't it better for me to go with PHP+mySQL - easier to learn and deploy? Can I just start out with a framework like Symphony instead? Well, if all you have is PHP + MySQL in your provider, there is no which is better question, is it? You might want to look at http://phptal.org/ a library that provides a templating system similar to ZPT. The advantage is the better separation between presentation and business layers. Regards, Fernando ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
On 12/04/2011 09:31 PM, John Schinnerer wrote: In any case, this looks (to me anyhow) like a very object-oriented system you are modeling so an object oriented approach and language would seem most suitable. And how would you create (and update) objects in Python for: at least 500 tools as of now, and it is bound to grow in the future as newer tools are introduced. Existing tools will also have version updates. Each tool, on average, has at least 100 properties that define the tool. Some of them have as high as 1000 unique properties. Regards, Fernando ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
[Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
I have a personal project - a web application I wanted to develop - but I'm confused on which route to take. I am not under any time constraint. About the App:The best I can describe it is as a kind of expert system (but not AI) that needs to find the best workflow for a process, given a set of initial and final parameters. E.g. a 'capsule' of data must pass through many 'tools' or 'environments' to reach a desired output - something like a very complicated car wash.Let's say there are many tools that can be used at various stages in the process. I have estimated there are at least 500 tools as of now, and it is bound to grow in the future as newer tools are introduced. Existing tools will also have version updates.Each tool, on average, has at least 100 properties that define the tool. Some of them have as high as 1000 unique properties. Some of these tools are linked to each other - e.g if one tool is selected, there are only n tools that can correspond to it for the next step in the process. I also have the problem of 'matching' the tools for analysis. E.g. Tool A might have only three fixed rpms - 100, 200 and 500, but Tool B might have rpms from 20 to 2000. I'm not sure how I can construct a database without spelling out each number, as in the example above.The total number of tools needed for the process can be defined at the beginning, however, it will change as the application becomes more complex in the future. I plan to address every contingency in the process. The idea is - if the user inputs the initial parameters and the desired outcome (another set of parameters), the app must find the 'best' path - sort of like a decision tree. The best path can be the fastest, cheapest, etc. I would like the user to choose what is best for him/her.Unfortunately, parameters might change, relationships might change (but not regularly) - the 'rules' I will be using might be revised for better accuracy in prediction.I also need to track each user's path and solutions' for future reference (but no personal details except username and email address for logging in). Maybe when the app is up and running, I'd like to make it more democratic, with users contributing to refining the logic/rules involved.If possible, I would also like the app to output a graphical flowchart at the end showing the workflow with all tools grouped in an easy to understand layout. My questions:Will the app be better served with a relational DB like mySQL or an Object database? After a lot of research I've guessed that my particular case might be better served with Python and Zope/ZODB. But I might be wrong? Maybe PHP+mySQL or Django is a better fit?Can anyone provide general advice on how to go about beginning such a project in ZOPE. Which is the best place to start learning for a newbie? Can anyone recommend a good shared hosting provider that supports Zope fully but is not expensive? Is there a module or app that is open source that I can use to output a graphical flowchart based on the results, or will I be better served programming it from scratch with Python?I would appreciate any help in getting started. Thank you in advance. I have tried most online forums but have not good any productive answers. Most of the answers I got were pro-PHP+mySQL. Adam ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
Re: [Zope] Help in deciding approach to Web App
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 - From reading: your database model appears pretty much relational. Where would you take advantages from using Zope as framework? This sounds like a task for Pyramid + RDBMS or a graph DB. - -aj Sareesh Sudhakaran wrote: I have a personal project - a web application I wanted to develop - but I'm confused on which route to take. I am not under any time constraint. *About the App:* The best I can describe it is as a kind of expert system (but not AI) that needs to find the best workflow for a process, given a set of initial and final parameters. E.g. a 'capsule' of data must pass through many 'tools' or 'environments' to reach a desired output - something like a very complicated car wash. Let's say there are many tools that can be used at various stages in the process. I have estimated there are at least 500 tools as of now, and it is bound to grow in the future as newer tools are introduced. Existing tools will also have version updates. Each tool, on average, has at least 100 properties that define the tool. Some of them have as high as 1000 unique properties. Some of these tools are linked to each other - e.g if one tool is selected, there are only n tools that can correspond to it for the next step in the process. I also have the problem of 'matching' the tools for analysis. E.g. Tool A might have only three fixed rpms - 100, 200 and 500, but Tool B might have rpms from 20 to 2000. I'm not sure how I can construct a database without spelling out each number, as in the example above. The total number of tools needed for the process can be defined at the beginning, however, it will change as the application becomes more complex in the future. I plan to address every contingency in the process. The idea is - if the user inputs the initial parameters and the desired outcome (another set of parameters), the app must find the 'best' path - sort of like a decision tree. The best path can be the fastest, cheapest, etc. I would like the user to choose what is best for him/her. Unfortunately, parameters might change, relationships might change (but not regularly) - the 'rules' I will be using might be revised for better accuracy in prediction. I also need to track each user's path and solutions' for future reference (but no personal details except username and email address for logging in). Maybe when the app is up and running, I'd like to make it more democratic, with users contributing to refining the logic/rules involved. If possible, I would also like the app to output a graphical flowchart at the end showing the workflow with all tools grouped in an easy to understand layout. *My questions:* 1. Will the app be better served with a relational DB like mySQL or an Object database? After a lot of research I've guessed that my particular case might be better served with Python and Zope/ZODB. But I might be wrong? Maybe PHP+mySQL or Django is a better fit? 2. Can anyone provide general advice on how to go about beginning such a project in ZOPE. Which is the best place to start learning for a newbie? 3. Can anyone recommend a good shared hosting provider that supports Zope fully but is not expensive? 4. Is there a module or app that is open source that I can use to output a graphical flowchart based on the results, or will I be better served programming it from scratch with Python? I would appreciate any help in getting started. Thank you in advance. I have tried most online forums but have not good any productive answers. Most of the answers I got were pro-PHP+mySQL. Adam ___ Zope maillist - Zope@zope.org https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ** No cross posts or HTML encoding! ** (Related lists - https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce https://mail.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev ) - -- ZOPYX Limited | zopyx group Charlottenstr. 37/1 | The full-service network for Zope Plone D-72070 Tübingen| Produce Publish www.zopyx.com | www.produce-and-publish.com - E-Publishing, Python, Zope Plone development, Consulting -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (Darwin) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iQGUBAEBAgAGBQJO2yPrAAoJEADcfz7u4AZjnJULviZSrj8nLwzeqjgxGT+d9/aU 1x0bj/E3zuPFeKtWkevp26K4OiCe/yw7PmgVXh1xBbfLhFzUcet9Ubdu0eIjfE/8 dC8hayQf4fR8KD3J06CbkMAEJsJur3gTPoFxzDWd7S9ybwuFjb3E14AhiQGPpdYN DVwE6U3t240Wj7ebNTblASQnvI2sfzr9r2tYVqZc8O+SMyROL1oIs56RNofT4pz5 p9OXiYlnHmn1keCbEKnYk1e2zTU7kFJdGQz/Uy+yV4QTiU7nMwhxWCx1gBKxVgNk XseqPdWKl9epz/h1Pb0qPTvK6PXl46Cj/0Bls/XU6yHDDpB49SqMXai2i6VIAzdL lik6JwSPVxBv24eTngrisx2qvhl1ln63EM+AWwky7jUgNl0cwALNdR3Gj+zDVioc ZWAZfWcuI3TFKYpwJiwzNgT0DSbOLvlM/09xXPsxmE+rfXT8arTxMSEgaQS60LqJ
