| commit | author | age | ||
| 7a4c7c | 1 | :orphan: |
| DS | 2 | |
| 10520a | 3 | Foreword |
| CM | 4 | ======== |
| 5 | ||
| 6 | .. sidebar:: A Foreword By Paul Everitt | |
| 7 | ||
| 8 | Paul Everitt is a principal at :term:`Agendaless Consulting`. | |
| 379280 | 9 | Before his time at Agendaless, he was the co-founder of *Digital |
| CM | 10 | Creations*, which later became *Zope Corporation*. He has been |
| 11 | a widely respected member of the Python community since 1994. | |
| 10520a | 12 | |
| 1063de | 13 | Some times amazing things can actually happen. |
| 10520a | 14 | |
| 1063de | 15 | In the world of web frameworks, the rate of radioactive decay is very high. |
| CM | 16 | Projects are starting, splintering, folding, and clashing constantly. For |
| 17 | Python, there are over 50 listed web frameworks. In some ways this shows | |
| 18 | health and experimentation. Yet others have started to ask: "Is this really | |
| 19 | good for Python developers?" | |
| 10520a | 20 | |
| 1063de | 21 | This book is the result of an event which bucked this trend, an event which |
| CM | 22 | Armin Ronacher wrote was "one of the greatest moves in Python's web framework |
| 23 | history." Two projects merged and are bringing in a third. Consolidation | |
| 24 | won a victory over splintering. | |
| 10520a | 25 | |
| 1063de | 26 | As someone from the Zope world, I had a strong interest in repoze.bfg. I |
| CM | 27 | viewed it as the escape hatch for Zope, teleporting us into the modern world |
| 28 | of Python development, permitting but not requiring Zope-style idioms. Chris | |
| 29 | McDonough established a great brand for repoze.bfg: small, documented, | |
| 30 | tested, fast, stable, friendly. As the project manager for a very large | |
| 31 | repoze.bfg application, I can strongly attest that it was a home run on those | |
| 32 | points. | |
| 10520a | 33 | |
| 1063de | 34 | But in a crowded web frameworks landscape, repoze.bfg was a long-shot to get |
| CM | 35 | critical mass. It had a lot to offer, but was missing critical pieces such |
| 36 | as momentum and name recognition. | |
| 10520a | 37 | |
| 1063de | 38 | Pylons has long been viewed as holding the number two spot in Python web |
| CM | 39 | frameworks. It is one of (if not the) first "modern" web framework. With |
| 40 | lots of users, and a "full-stack" framework atop it (TurboGears), Pylons had | |
| 41 | momentum and name recognition aplenty. But it needed more resources to | |
| 42 | accomplish its goals of an architectural transition, and Ben Bangert needed | |
| 43 | to share the load as architect during the transition. | |
| 10520a | 44 | |
| 1063de | 45 | Ben and Chris started talking during 2011 about architectural patterns and |
| CM | 46 | discovered Pylons and repoze.bfg covered almost exactly the same surface |
| 47 | area. After some experiments, it became clear that, technically at least, | |
| 48 | the next version of Pylons could be the same as the next version of | |
| 49 | repoze.bfg. | |
| 10520a | 50 | |
| 1063de | 51 | But what about the non-technical parts? It was one thing to consolidate |
| CM | 52 | code. Consolidating projects was new territory. |
| 10520a | 53 | |
| 1063de | 54 | I was fortunate to meet with the principals in Las Vegas and watch as they |
| CM | 55 | hashed out the idea. The projects would merge and keep the Pylons identity. |
| 56 | repoze.bfg would sacrifice its identity, but provide the technical | |
| 57 | foundation. All the resources from the two projects would be combined. | |
| 10520a | 58 | |
| 1063de | 59 | I'll confess, I had high hopes for the outcome. Now that the merge has |
| CM | 60 | happened and 1.0 released, I can honestly say it has done better than I could |
| 61 | have imagined. The story of "consolidation" is catching on, and interest in | |
| 62 | working together is growing. Pyramid 1.0 is very, very high quality and | |
| 63 | ready to go for PyCon 2011. People interested in "simple, fast, documented, | |
| 64 | tested" have a strong framework and healthy project. | |
| 10520a | 65 | |
| 1063de | 66 | It took humility, patience, and pragmatism to reach this point of obvious |
| CM | 67 | success. Certainly by the project leaders, who each had to give up some of |
| 68 | their sovereignty and sacred cows. But as well, each community had to | |
| 69 | discuss the challenges, the various alternatives for going forward, and the | |
| 70 | pros and cons of consolidation in general but also this particular | |
| 71 | consolidation. That such a conversation and change could happen in a | |
| 72 | responsible, adult fashion speaks volumes about the strength and maturity of | |
| 73 | each community. | |
| 10520a | 74 | |
| 1063de | 75 | What might happen in 2011? TurboGears is considering a move into the |
| CM | 76 | umbrella Pylons Project. As Armin writes in his post, there is fertile |
| 77 | ground for consolidation at other layers. In my own interests, I hope the | |
| 78 | worlds of Zope and Plone view Pyramid as the base for the next decade of | |
| 79 | their ideas. But also, the Pylons Project as a vibrant home for such ideas. | |
| 80 | ||
| 81 | Congratulations, Pylons Project. Not only have you accelerated your spot on | |
| 82 | the Python web frameworks chart, but you have injected the word | |
| 83 | "consolidation" into the lexicon of hot ideas for 2011. | |
