=====================
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Author Introduction
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=====================
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Welcome to "The :app:`Pyramid` Web Framework". In this
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introduction, I'll describe the audience for this book, I'll describe
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the book content, I'll provide some context regarding the genesis of
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:app:`Pyramid`, and I'll thank some important people.
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I hope you enjoy both this book and the software it documents. I've
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had a blast writing both.
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.. index::
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single: book audience
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Audience
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========
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This book is aimed primarily at a reader that has the following
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attributes:
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- At least a moderate amount of :term:`Python` experience.
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- A familiarity with web protocols such as HTTP and CGI.
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If you fit into both of these categories, you're in the direct target
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audience for this book. But don't worry, even if you have no
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experience with Python or the web, both are easy to pick up "on the
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fly".
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Python is an *excellent* language in which to write applications;
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becoming productive in Python is almost mind-blowingly easy. If you
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already have experience in another language such as Java, Visual
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Basic, Perl, Ruby, or even C/C++, learning Python will be a snap; it
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should take you no longer than a couple of days to become modestly
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productive. If you don't have previous programming experience, it
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will be slightly harder, and it will take a little longer, but you'd
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be hard-pressed to find a better "first language."
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Web technology familiarity is assumed in various places within the
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book. For example, the book doesn't try to define common web-related
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concepts like "URL" or "query string." Likewise, the book describes
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various interactions in terms of the HTTP protocol, but it does not
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describe how the HTTP protocol works in detail. Like any good web
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framework, though, :app:`Pyramid` shields you from needing to know
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most of the gory details of web protocols and low-level data
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structures. As a result, you can usually avoid becoming "blocked"
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while you read this book even if you don't yet deeply understand web
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technologies.
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.. index::
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single: book content overview
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Book Content
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============
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This book is divided into four major parts:
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:ref:`tutorials`
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Each tutorial builds a sample application or implements a set of
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concepts with a sample; it then describes the application or
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concepts in terms of the sample. You should read the tutorials if
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you want a guided tour of :app:`Pyramid`.
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:ref:`narrative_documentation`
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This is documentation which describes :app:`Pyramid` concepts in
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narrative form, written in a largely conversational tone. Each
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narrative documentation chapter describes an isolated
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:app:`Pyramid` concept. You should be able to get useful
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information out of the narrative chapters if you read them
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out-of-order, or when you need only a reminder about a particular
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topic while you're developing an application.
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:ref:`api_documentation`
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Comprehensive reference material for every public API exposed by
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:app:`Pyramid`. The API documentation is organized
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alphabetically by module name.
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:ref:`pscripts_documentation`
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``p*`` scripts included with :app:`Pyramid`.
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.. index::
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single: repoze.zope2
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single: Zope 3
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single: Zope 2
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single: repoze.bfg genesis
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single: pyramid genesis
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The Genesis of :mod:`repoze.bfg`
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================================
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Before the end of 2010, :app:`Pyramid` was known as :mod:`repoze.bfg`.
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I wrote :mod:`repoze.bfg` after many years of writing applications
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using :term:`Zope`. Zope provided me with a lot of mileage: it wasn't
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until almost a decade of successfully creating applications using it
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that I decided to write a different web framework. Although
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:mod:`repoze.bfg` takes inspiration from a variety of web frameworks,
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it owes more of its core design to Zope than any other.
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The Repoze "brand" existed before :mod:`repoze.bfg` was created. One
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of the first packages developed as part of the Repoze brand was a
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package named :mod:`repoze.zope2`. This was a package that allowed
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Zope 2 applications to run under a :term:`WSGI` server without
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modification. Zope 2 did not have reasonable WSGI support at the
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time.
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During the development of the :mod:`repoze.zope2` package, I found
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that replicating the Zope 2 "publisher" -- the machinery that maps
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URLs to code -- was time-consuming and fiddly. Zope 2 had evolved
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over many years, and emulating all of its edge cases was extremely
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difficult. I finished the :mod:`repoze.zope2` package, and it
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emulates the normal Zope 2 publisher pretty well. But during its
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development, it became clear that Zope 2 had simply begun to exceed my
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tolerance for complexity, and I began to look around for simpler
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options.
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I considered using the Zope 3 application server machinery, but it
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turned out that it had become more indirect than the Zope 2 machinery
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it aimed to replace, which didn't fulfill the goal of simplification.
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I also considered using Django and Pylons, but neither of those
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frameworks offer much along the axes of traversal, contextual
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declarative security, or application extensibility; these were
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features I had become accustomed to as a Zope developer.
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I decided that in the long term, creating a simpler framework that
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retained features I had become accustomed to when developing Zope
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applications was a more reasonable idea than continuing to use any
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Zope publisher or living with the limitations and unfamiliarities of a
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different framework. The result is what is now :app:`Pyramid`.
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The Genesis of :app:`Pyramid`
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=============================
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What was :mod:`repoze.bfg` has become :app:`Pyramid` as the result of
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a coalition built between the :term:`Repoze` and :term:`Pylons`
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community throughout the year 2010. By merging technology, we're able
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to reduce duplication of effort, and take advantage of more of each
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others' technology.
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.. index::
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single: Bicking, Ian
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single: Everitt, Paul
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single: Seaver, Tres
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single: Sawyers, Andrew
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single: Borch, Malthe
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single: de la Guardia, Carlos
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single: Brandl, Georg
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single: Oram, Simon
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single: Hardwick, Nat
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single: Fulton, Jim
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single: Moroz, Tom
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single: Koym, Todd
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single: van Rossum, Guido
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single: Peters, Tim
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single: Rossi, Chris
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single: Holth, Daniel
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single: Hathaway, Shane
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single: Akkerman, Wichert
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single: Laflamme, Blaise
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single: Laflamme, Hugues
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single: Bangert, Ben
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single: Duncan, Casey
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single: Orr, Mike
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single: Shipman, John
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single: Beelby, Chris
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single: Paez, Patricio
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single: Merickel, Michael
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Thanks
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======
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This book is dedicated to my grandmother, who gave me my first
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typewriter (a Royal), and my mother, who bought me my first computer
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(a VIC-20).
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Thanks to the following people for providing expertise, resources, and
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software. Without the help of these folks, neither this book nor the
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software which it details would exist: Paul Everitt, Tres Seaver, Andrew
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Sawyers, Malthe Borch, Carlos de la Guardia, Chris Rossi, Shane Hathaway,
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Daniel Holth, Wichert Akkerman, Georg Brandl, Blaise Laflamme, Ben Bangert,
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Casey Duncan, Hugues Laflamme, Mike Orr, John Shipman, Chris Beelby, Patricio
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Paez, Simon Oram, Nat Hardwick, Ian Bicking, Jim Fulton, Michael Merickel,
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Tom Moroz of the Open Society Institute, and Todd Koym of Environmental
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Health Sciences.
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Thanks to Guido van Rossum and Tim Peters for Python.
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Special thanks to Tricia for putting up with me.
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