I've just begun to explore web2py and the GAE. On the GAE site, there are several articles which discuss table design in the absence of joins. For example, at http://www.google.com/events/io/2009/sessions/BuildingScalableComplexApps.html, Brett Slatkin describes "relation index entities" and "merge joins".
Does the DAL accommodate these more involved design options or must the developer use the GAE API directly? If the answer to my question is a lengthy "it depends", please disregard; I'll come back when I can ask a more specific question. Thanks,