I'm new to web in general and django (python web framework) as well.
I find python easier to work with but most of my colleagues prefer java.(play framework)
Would it be possible to mix them in a web application?
Would it be easier if I just dump django and start using play?
Someone in Integrating Django and Rails mentioned 'messaging', and I wonder what he meant by that.
It's definitely better idea to jump into the Play (or django) then mixing both solutions. Reason is one, fundamental. Although it is possible to mix one framework with other, or even mix frameworks from many languages, first... you need to know all elements at least very well. Then you can search for most optimal ways for connecting them and use the best parts from each, to get best possible result.
As de facto Play's and djangos approaches are very similar I see no good reason for trying connecting them, especially, when bigger part of the team uses one solution, the best option is to follow them.
While, as you wrote - you're new to the django as well, that switch should not be a problem. You can just in future write similar project in django and compare productivity, performance etc. Maybe then you'll convince your colleagues for trying something else.
BTW: Messaging between two apps should be done with documented API's, just consider each other as a 'foreign' service. You can share database, but make sure that frameworks don't duplicate functionalities.
In other words - if you'll write a ContenteManager in django, make sure, that Play guys connect to the DB as a client, or vice versa, don't try to mix responsibility between two solutions (even if written in the same language/framework) cause you'll fail.
I think messaging between two separate frameworks is possible by a number of ways :
intensive exchanging data-files (we're back to DOS days...)
sharing the same database (not described in books , but I've seen it )
communicating trough key-value store as a common data-source
All those solutions are the same if you put diesel fuel in your Ferrari .
Anyway , if you step on a framework you don't like , probably it has some kind of database , that you can use . My advice is to abandone the old and ugly framework , instead of learning to work with it - burden in your hands (soundgarden) .
Related
I want to develop a native application to ios.
I want to build an app that is a mix of Instagram and YouTube,generally.
I need to persist and get data to and from the database,store user data(images,videos,audio etc.), Allow user to edit his uploaded media ( images,videos,audio etc.).Also things such as drag and drop, GPS and image edition are added.
So far I think these are the most demanding features that app will contain.
I think about using swift for the front end, but I am still considering what language and database to go with to develop this application.
I though I should maybe go with php laravel framework RESTful api(since I know it already), combined with firebase.
Any better suggestion you might think about, and why?
Will appreciate your honest thoughts about this.
I was really putting the last hours in order to determine the right language for developing the back-end and the database. And I reckon that really node.js and mongoDB , along with Swift will make the perfect match!
node.js seems to be good for my app, as it does not really require very complex computing, and MongoDB is ideal for social networking features. These are the main reasons I am going with this stack :)
Also,about scalability, it's easier in MongoDB,rather than MySQL.
which framework helps in reducing the number of lines of code needed to create a web app?
ruby on rails?
php?
asp.net mvc?
jsp/servlet?
django/python?
I just don't like typing a lot of code especially if it's boilerplate. If I can write 10 lines of code versus 100 to get the same results, I think most people would prefer 10...right? So, tell me which web framework will acheive this goal.
All of them.
I wouldn't use "Shortest program" as a guiding factor in selecting one though.
It really depends on what backend and DB you are using to support your web app.
I mean, if you are consuming .Net web services then I think asp.net (and visual studio) would be the best match to generate all code behind classes to consume the data strongly typed. Other backend/db maybe make you choose a totally different path.
For a complex application: Seaside. None of the others comes close. Especially when you run it on a OODB like Gemstone: Glass
The answer to the question is completely circumstantial; certain frameworks will require less lines of code for specific purposes. Perhaps if you can give the StackOverflow readers an idea of the kind of task you wish to accomplish, they can point you in the direction of the framework that is most likely to accomplish the task in fewest lines of code.
SilverStripe requires almost no lines and no understanding of PHP. It comes with the UI, Auth, and everything you need to get started.
http://silverstripe.org/
http://www.slideshare.net/chillu/modeladmin-in-silverstripe-23
http://doc.silverstripe.com/doku.php?id=modeladmin
I think you can answer this question yourself with this way: Do the get started project.
In my case was: django/python, why?, see the get started project, will take a 1 or 2 hours to understand/develop/deploy, and not python knowledge required, just a hyperactive open mind.
How can i write a cloud-aware application? e.g. an application that takes benefit of being deployed on cloud. Is it same as an application that runs or a vps/dedicated server? if not then what are the differences? are there any design changes? What are the procedures that i need to take if i am to migrate an application to cloud-aware?
Also i am about to implement a web application idea which would need features like security, performance, caching, and more importantly free. I have been comparing some frameworks and found that django has least RAM/CPU usage and works great in prefork+threaded mode, but i have also read that django based sites stop to respond with huge load of connections. Other frameworks that i have seen/know are Zend, CakePHP, Lithium/Cake3, CodeIgnitor, Symfony, Ruby on Rails....
So i would leave this to your opinion as well, suggest me a good free framework based on my needs.
Finally thanks for reading the essay ;)
I feel a matrix moment coming on... "what is the cloud? The cloud is all around us, a prison for your program..." (what? the FAQ said bring your sense of humour...)
Ok so seriously, what is the cloud? It depends on the implementation but usual features include scalable computing resource and a charge per cpu-hour, storage area etc. So yes, it is a bit like developing on your VPS/a normal server.
As I understand it, Google App Engine allows you to consume as much as you want. The back-end resource management is done by Google and billed to you and you pay for what you use. I believe there's even a free threshold.
Amazon EC2 exposes an API that actually allows you to add virtual machine instances (someone correct me please if I'm wrong) having pre-configured them, deploy another instance of your web app, talk between private IP ranges if you wish (slicehost definitely allow this). As such, EC2 can allow you to act like a giant load balancer on the front-end passing work off to a whole number of VMs on the back end, or expose all that publicly, take your pick. I'm not sure on the exact detail because I didn't build the system but that's how I understand it.
I have a feeling (but I know least about Azure) that on Azure, resource management is done automatically, for you, by Microsoft, based on what your app uses.
So, in summary, the cloud is different things depending on which particular cloud you choose. EC2 seems to expose an API for managing resource, GAE and Azure appear to be environments which grow and shrink in the background based on your use.
Note: I am aware there are certain constraints developing in GAE, particularly with Java. In a minute, I'll edit in another thread where someone made an excellent comment on one of my posts to this effect.
Edit as promised, see this thread: Cloud Agnostic Architecture?
As for a choice of framework, it really doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned. If you are planning on deploying to one of these platforms you might want to check framework/language availability. I personally have just started Django and love it, having learnt python a while ago, so, in my totally unbiased opinion, use Django. Other developers will probably recommend other things, based on their preferences. What do you know? What are you most comfortable with? What do you like the most? I'd go with that. I chose Django purely because I'm not such a big fan of PHP, I like Python and I was comfortable with the framework when I initially played around with it.
Edit: So how do you write cloud-aware code? You design your software in such a way it fits on one of these architectures. Again, see the cloud-agnostic thread for some really good discussion on ways of doing this. For example, you might talk to some services on GAE which scale. That they are on GAE (example) doesn't really matter, you use loose coupling ideas. In essence, this is just a step up from the web service idea.
Also, another feature of the cloud I forgot to mention is the idea of CDN's being provided for you - some cloud implementations might move your data around the globe to make it more efficient to serve, or just because that's where they've got space. If that's an issue, don't use the cloud.
I cannot answer your question - I'm not experienced in such projects - but I can tell you one thing... both CakePHP and CodeIgniter are designed for PHP4 - in other words: for really old technology. And it seems nothing is going to change in their case. Symfony (especially 2.0 version which is still in heavy beta) is worth considering, but as I said on the very beginning - I can not support this with my own experience.
For designing applications for deployment for the cloud, the main thing to consider if recoverability. If your server is terminated, you may lose all of your data. If you're deploying on Amazon, I'd recommend putting all data that you need persisted onto an Elastic Block Storage (EBS) device. This would be data like user generated content/files, the database files and logs. I also use the EBS snapshot on a 5 day rotation so that's backed up itself. That said, I've had a cloud server up on AWS for over a year without any issues.
As for frameworks, I'm giving Grails a try at the minute and I'm quite enjoying it. Built to be syntactically similar to Rails but runs on the JVM. It means you can take advantage of all the Java goodness, like threading, concurrency and all the great libraries out there to build your web application.
I am building a site that has a lot in common with a person-on-person chess site. I was thinking of using Rails for the front-end(User Registration, Navigation, etc) and something like Scala or Erlang for the engine(Game state and maybe AI). I was wondering -
Is this a good situation to use that type of design?
How exactly would be best to divide up the functionality between the components?
How would they best communicate with each other?
I'm open to any technologies or ideas.
If you're using Rails for the front-end, why not use Ruby?
If you like the idea of using Scala, why not use Lift for the front-end?
Chess is turn-based, and has a very simple board that can be handled with HTML and/or Javascript enhancements - so the basic model flows quite nicely with existing web frameworks.
With this in mind, Rails is a great choice for creating a web-based application. Rails is not just limited to crud applications, and in fact I think can write your entire app in Rails/Ruby - you don't really need to have an external engine.
Within the browser space, polling for turn updates can be done using XMLHttpRequest and a database can maintain the current game and turn state.
Looks like a simple Lift application to me. I'm not experienced with Lift, mind you, but it doesn't seem particularly more complex than the chat application that is so often demoed.
I would start by reading http://www.htdp.org/ How to Design Programs. The questions you have asked are very broad and difficult to answer without prefixing statements with "I believe that..."
I would code it in clojure (but that's just me).
I'm currently developing a suite of online games, using Scala. It's been absolutely fantastic - my game logic is much easier to get right with the static typing etc, and dealing with server/client protocol (a flash client, in this case) is made simpler via the use of Google Protocol Buffers.
If you're a huge fan of RoR, by all means use that. I think most statically typed languages are terrible to program websites in (Java, I'm looking at you here), but Scala gets rid of 90% of the pain, and gives even more safety.
Of course, it might not be your cup of tea. But I'd try just doing the entire thing in Scala, and adding another layer if that doesn't quite do it for you.
For question 1 Yes
And for 2 and 3 you need to give more information in order to get an answer that could help you.
Now I'm doing something like you but for the front end I'm going to use Grails. The reason are very simple: I like Grails, Scala and I want to mix them :)
What language, framework, and hosting considerations should one make before starting development of a scalable web application?
The most important consideration is not to over-engineer to the point that it gets in the way of building and launching something. Analysis paralysis is the single biggest inhibitor to productivity, progress and results.
Yes, do some planning. Pick a framework. Perfection in a framework will be impossible to find because it doesn't exist, partially because you don't know what you need until you build it anyways. Chances are, if you pick something, it will be better than picking nothing.
Yes, try to pick flexible, inter-operable tools for where you see yourself going.
Yes, look for a good built-in feature set where you see yourself going in the next 6-18 Months. Trying to look beyond that is not really realistic anyways as most projects change so much anyways going towards the first release.
So, pick what you're comfortable with or what is familiar. Don't follow the crowd, do what gets you the best results, quickest, and often. Understand that you might have to change in the future. So, whatever you build now, try to use unit testing so you can re-factor if ever needed.
If what you're building is going to be super successful, it will be a great problem to have, and an easy one to work on once it's making money as you'll be able to get other talent to help you.
Share what you end up picking and why for your situation -- it helps the us learn from you too!
Don't necessarily marry yourself to one language or framework. It may be that some parts of your site work better with different languages and frameworks than others. For example, all of 37signals' sites are based on Ruby on Rails, but they recently wrote a blog post about how the underlying technology of one is actually written in Erlang now because it's much easier to do concurrency that way.
Obviously there's a level of complexity where things turn into a mishmash, but using the right tool for the job — even if that means different tools for different jobs — can simplify things.
Firstly on language, it largely doesn't matter. PHP, Java and .Net being probably the biggest three are all proven in the sense that they run some of the largest sites on the Web so don't listen to anyone who tells you one is more suited than any of the others.
Some might also put Ruby and Django/Python in this list. I have nothing against them but I'm not aware of any big (say top 50) sites using either.
Hosting considerations depend on how low you want to start but basically the order is:
Shared;
Virtual Private Server;
Dedicated.
Scalability will largely be about your application's design than any language, framework or provider. Efficient database schema, efficient delivery and use of Javascript/CSS and in-memory caching are all issues common to any language or framework.
Language - I'd recommend something with good frameworks and good testing libraries like Perl or Java.
Framework - it depends on what do you plan to do. If you start with a hosting that does not allow FastCGI, it is best to avoid such frameworks like Catalyst or Rails. That's why I love CGI::Application (primarily Perl, but ported to other languages too) - it can run as CGI, FastCGI or mod_perl. For development it can be run from it's own web server.
Hosting - nothing is better than you own server. It can be your own server, leased server or virtual server. But you can start with cheapest hosting and when you need more, you should be able to afford it.
It depends.
Start by looking at your requirements (Functional or user defined) (Non Functional - aspects that describe your desired system link text)
Next I would clarify what it means to have a scalable web application. Define it as test cases that can be clearly tested (must support X page views / second with response time < Y seconds).
Once I had those pieces in place I would look at what type of skills my development team can support (for the intial project and on going maintenance). Then find some case studies of applications out in the wild that use similar language or framework. If someone else has made a specific language / framework scale then chances are good that you can too.
Finally go out and look for some hosting providers that support your chosen language, framework and requirements.