[Chicago-talk] What exactly is a "Application Framework"
Jason Gessner
jason at multiply.org
Tue Mar 29 07:49:32 PST 2005
On Mar 29, 2005, at 8:37 AM, Jim Thomason wrote:
>> Jim mentioned Basset get compared with CDBI a lot, but I wouldn't
> call CDBI a application
>> framework. TT and Mason I'd call templating engines, good a
>> generating
>> forms (web or paper) based on variables and input. Maypole too
>
> For the record, I detest the comparison to CDBI. It comes about from
> people looking at the persistent object class and then saying, "Oh,
> this is just what CDBI does. Use that." And it's a silly argument
> since Basset provides much more functionality, but that's the bit
> people focus on, for some reason.
>
Why are you so defensive about the C::DBI comparison? Data access is
so crucial that people want something good, fast and simple.
Until you start trying to shoehorn C::DBI into being a reporting
engine, it is quite a bit simpler than your basset examples (and
requires no configuration file or editing of the module sources). As
for speed, again, it has its optimal uses, and its suboptimal uses.
If bassett is a totally general purpose application framework, then
concentrate on being the glue between the MVC components, not rewriting
them. As glue it may be good. But is your templating engine really
better than mason, html::template or tt? Probably not. Is your DB
access better than C::DBI? Again, probably not. If you concentrate on
stripping out everything but the glue, perhaps your app can become as
good as some of those apps.
As an example of a good domain specific application framework, Bryar
provides a totally generic set of hooks to deal with its data
persistence, front end and display components and consequently has many
combinations of application setups available. Despite some of its
other issues, it is a very well designed framework for blog-esque
publishing.
i wouldn't be so defensive. You are putting your app out there and
saying it is better than x. ok, fine. prove it. Or prove even why it
may be better than x in circumstance y. Otherwise, relax a bit. :)
-jason
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