mdipierro's comments

It runs on Jython and IronPython.

It can read SQLAlchemy models (has a compatibility module)

It can read Django models, including validators (has a compatibility module)

It can use Jinja2 and Genshi and any any other template language.

Although I do not really see why anybody would want to do such things.

You can use SQLAlchemy with it as you can use any Python package you like but...

1) The web2py DAL is designed to work with SQLFORM. SQLAlchemy is not. By using SQLAlchemy you would be using web2py more or less like you would use Pylons, thus missing a lot of the extra stuff that web2py does for you (and that you do not see because you think SQLAlchemy).

2) It is internal DAL is comparable and in some cases better than SQLAlchemy because is smaller, faster, and it works on the Google App Engine. By using SQLAlchemy your web2py programs would not run on GAE.

3) web2py users like the web2py DAL better than SQLAlchemy. That is why hey use web2py.

We are not reinventing the wheel. We are just building a better wheel that runs faster and is easier to spin. We are not reinventing the wheel any more or less than any other framework did.

Before investing time in learning a new language you may want to consider other "features" of a web framework that may help you choose. For example, give a try to web2py since it does not require installation (just unzip and starts). It includes sqlite and ssl enabled web server. You can do all development and maintenance via the web interface. In 5 minutes you should be able to write a simple app like:

    def hello(): return "Hello %s" % request.vars.name

Then you decide if it is worth your time to learn the language. Usually learning the APIs of a framework take more time than learning the language it is based on.

Java remains is the most popular programming language out there but the number of Java programmers exceeds the number of jobs for available to those Java programmers. That is not true for c++, Python, Ruby. I know because the career center at the university I work for tells me so. The question is: do you what to be a small fish swimming in a shrinking large pond or a big fish swimming in a growing small pong?

web2py and web.py are completely different animals, but they both eat pythons.

In the case of web2py there is an object called XML, text passed to the view inside XML is not escaped otherwise it is. You can also do XML(text,sanitize=True) and you can specify which tags and with tag attributes should be allowed. The sanitizer that ships with web2py is the one developed by Josh Goldfoot and posted on activestate, recipe 496942.

Here is the table of content and some sample chapters: http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/examples/static/web2py_manual_cut....

You can easily modify KPAX (http://www.vimeo.com/1098656) to do what you need, and more. kpax is based on web2py (http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu) and you can download it from here (http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/appliances/default/show/37).This (http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/AlterEgo/default/show/99) shows how to add captcha. I will help you more if you sign up for the web2py google group.

Here are a few things that you can do with web2py but not Django: upload/download streaming (as in deal with files larger than fit in ram), connect to multiple database, use pure python in templates, give tickets to visitors on error, develop and maintain your web sites via a web interface, run the ORM in Google App Engine. There are also many apps you can get here http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/appliances

way to go pystar!

If you have questions you gave a very active users group: groups.google.com/group/web2py

It is biased since I made it but I have emailed people I know from other frameworks and I have incorporated all the corrections that they have sent me.

after you create the db connection db=SQLDB(..) you need to write session.connect(request,response,db=db). can we please move this discussion on the web2py google group?

perhaps you should try the online demo: http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/demo_admin and read this: http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/examples/static/web2py_vs_others.p...

I disagree with your criterial of looking at previous qualifications of the developer but by your own criteria you should love web2py.

Yes, developing the ORM was very very easy compared to, for example, developing www.fermiqcd.net (BTW we should be friends since I see you are in data representation and me too these days mdp.cti.depaul.edu/vqcd).

I will agree with you that for some of the web2py components there is a better module out there, the point you are missing is that the web2py modules are designed to work together while the alternatives are not. You will not appreciate this until you try it. Here is an example: Pygments is a much better general purpose syntax highlighter than the web2py's one, nevertheless web2py's one can highlight web2py code, create clickable links from web2py keywords to the web2py online documentation, is faster and fits in 10k. If you need to syntax highlight Java or PHP code you can still easy_install and use Pygments. Although you can, the web2py modules are not designed to be taken out and used separately.

SQLAlchemy is better than the web2py ORM in dealing with legacy databases. web2py has restrictions in this case. But the web2py ORM is much better integrated with the rest of the framework than SQLAlchemy is integrated with, for example, Pylons or TurboGears. If you do not use the entire web2py framework you are better off with SQLAlchemy. If you do use web2py, you are better off with its own ORM. Here are some preliminary benchmarks (take them with grain of salt) http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/AlterEgo/default/show/76

Please do it, to my email or to the web2py mailing list. they will be taken care of or you I will explain to you why I disagree with you.

Three other people came to pick up the rules and some more were on the mailing list, were supposed to and didn't. I spent 24 hours coding and felt like a fool when nobody else delivered. You are taking a quote I made to my users' group out of context. Why do you turn a discussion about some work of mine into a personal thing?

Being a professor who teaches the stuff for a living and grades other people's work, you remind me of that typical PhD student that knows enough to talk about his work but nothing enough in detail to ever graduate. No offense.

Let me add that in life is the new things that give you an edge, not those things that everybody knows.

I updated the document and listed 3. When the other two come out I will update it again. Thanks.