Professional Python Frameworks Web 2.0 Programming with Django and TurboGears.

We Python developers have always been a proud lot, able to create desktop solutions with a variety of user experience libraries, ranging from GTK to PythonCard to WxPython. We Pythonists have always prided ourselves in being the best example of an end-to-end, batteries-included delivery system that could create anything imaginable for the desktop user. Even in the early days of the Web, Pythonistas led the way with Zope, and later Twisted.

Imagine the surprise of many of us when Ruby on Rails appeared suddenly and seemed to suck all the air out of the room when the topic of Web 2.0 frameworks was discussed. Python’s rarely challenged position of agile-language king of the desktop hardly mattered anymore. Most Python developers had become accustomed to having a common set of rich client APIs for Windows, MAC OS X, and Linux. Thus, many Pythonists, although familiar with the Rich Client Platform (RCP) model, were suddenly in the uncomfortable and unfamiliar position of having fallen behind in the emerging Web 2.0 world.

Now this status quo has changed, and there are two strong end-to-end frameworks (Django and Turbo-Gears) available for the Python Web 2.0 developer. Even if you haven’t had exposure to the buzzwords or development model for Web 2.0 applications, this book will help you along that path. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), for example, is a hugely important element of the Web 2.0 interaction model, and it is well covered and explained in examining both Django and TurboGears.

In addition, there’s now growing recognition, even in the most stolid of enterprises, of an important shift in customer demand that promises to change the very foundations of how we develop and deploy applications. Customers are now specifying Web 2.0 capabilities in new applications development and even in retrofitting current applications to this new model, and the Web itself is undergoing a shift from a collection of news articles, static forms, and bulletin boards to a virtual application-hosting platform in and of itself.This book is right at the front of this trend for Python developers. Together, we will explore the elements of this change in browser-based applications—from greater dynamism and responsiveness to faster development cycles to greater embrace of social networking. In this book, the objective is to prepare both the corporate and the independent developer to take advantage of this new emerging landscape. As the world of shrink-wrapped boxes of client-side software begins to wane, a new ecology of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) is emerging to bring both developers and end users new benefits that take full advantage of today’s connected world. Python developers who can reap the benefits of this new ecology will prosper and stay at the front of their professional ranks.