On 19-May-06, at 10:16 PM, Ashok Hariharan wrote:
1) The system we want to build is a fairly compex one with multiple
legacy
applciation integrations...and it needs to be localized
and deployed in multiple countries, lots of data entry forms which
need to
be built quickly etc...I have never felt PHP
cuts it in such a situation ( ) what do you guys think...?
Home grown solutions have a tendency to fall into disarray when the
makers lose interest. It may not seem so for the next couple of
years, but surely your application is intended to have a longer life.
It is better to depend on frameworks where the promoters have a
commercial stake in keeping it going. Plone currently has a stable
ecosystem, largely based in Europe.
2) On the question of skilling up....how easy is it to learn /
skill up
people.... zope/python v/s php content framework..... ?
If somebody knows PHP well would it be very hard for them to pick up
somethng like Zope?
Python is trivial to pick up. Python Zen takes about eight months.
Zope's learning curve is vertical -- at least a year before it even
starts making sense. Plone is an interesting case. Management with
the UI (workflows, et al) is easy. For making extensions, at the
base, you can get away with making UML diagrams and having the code
100% auto-generated. For further customisation, the Archetypes
framework (which was built on top of Plone but has now become core)
is very nice. Beyond this, you'll rapidly approach the Zope wall.
Plone itself is in the middle of a transition to Zope 3, which is
nowhere like the current Zope 2, so the wall can be even more baffling.
PHP programmers will need to stop thinking in PHP before they can
write good Python code. Same goes for C or Java programmers. The
nature of the language is different, so experienced programmers will
have to learn to think differently. Lisp programmers will find it
easier.
Overall, I'd go with Plone. Their team takes usability and
architecture very seriously, even if they lack somewhat on legacy
support (not entirely their fault).
--
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://www.pobox.com/~jace
