[mod_python] Why are you using mod_python?

On Fri, Mar 28, 2003 at 11:14:12PM -0600, Frank S. Fejes III wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 17:38:48 -0500 (EST)
> "Gregory (Grisha) Trubetskoy" <grisha at modpython.org> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Hello everyone -
> > 
> > As the original author of mod_python I think I'm allowed to jerk people's
> > chains with this simple question:
> > 
> > Why are you using mod_python?

...

> On a somewhat tangential note, I think mod_python documentation reflects
> strangely on what target audience might be interested in the module.  Almost
> all introductions I've seen to mod_python begin with a tutorial on creating
> a handler.  I'd venture a guess that writing handlers is what fewer than 1%
> of web developers want to do with an apache module initially.  In my
> experience, most people want to write some code and have it run faster than
> it would run under straight CGI...they don't want to write custom handlers.

Well, I suppose I must be counted among that 1% :) I switched to
mod_python from PHP and Servlets about <checks CVS> 8 or 9 months ago,
and it was primarily because of the flexibility and power of cutsom
handlers. I love the fact that I can write applications whose URLs have
some meaning besides simply naming a file on the web server's hard
drive.

When I was first introduced to mod_python, I imagined it to be simply a
way to embed python code inline into HTML files (like PHP or JSP,) and I
nearly dismissed it out of hand. I looked at it more carefully, though,
and when I realised that it was more akin to mod_perl, and would
actually give me an opportunity to interact so closely with Apache, I
became much more excited working with it.

Since then, I have adopted many of the tenets of the REST philosophy,
and I have found mod_python to be an ideal platform to develop REST-ful
applications. I doubt I could even go back to the CGI or PHP ways of
doing things now.


But then, that might just be me :)


Ian Clelland
<ian at veryfresh.com>