[Gllug] question about python/perl

[Jason Clifford]

On Thu, 2011-02-24 at 14:14 +0000, Martin wrote:
> OK, I've seen the term 'web development framework'. I know of CakePHP, 
> Django, and Rails. Now comes my dumb question: what are they for? I 
> understand that they speed up web development, but how? What exactly do 
> they do? I looked at their websites but still fail to see the point in 
> them - Obviously it's not because there's none, it's just I don't get 
> it. Do they deal with HTML/CSS/Javascript? Do they insert some PHP 
> functionality into the website?

A good web development framework will include a good templating system
so that you have proper separation of the controller from the view (ie
the application code from the code implementing the output to whatever
front end you are using. It should also implement separation of the data
model from the application control so that you have a good data design
and a well established and easy method for interacting with it.

This separation (often referred to as MVC - model, view, controller)
ensures that you have a simple and consistent interface to both the data
and the user interface so you can concentrate on writing your
application. Done properly it makes it significantly easier to write
code that is secure, scalable and easily maintained.

My experience of writing to a good perl framework was that I learned a
lot of about writing better code. Returning to that code this week after
leaving it several months it is easy to read and extend.

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