[Demexp-dev] Which architecture and languages for next developments?

[David MENTRE]

Hello,

At last demexp meeting, we have decided to focus developments on a web
interface to help the spreading of demexp.

We should face now the choice of architecture and language to accomplish
this.

I have already made a web interface to demexp[1] using the WDialog
framework[2], which is using the OCaml language. WDialog allows to write
web interface, and other OCaml modules allow to interface with SQL
databases. If I follow the same approach, I would have roughly the
following architecture:

 Web browser <--HTTP--> WDialog interface <--demexp RPC--> demexp server
                                ^                               ^
                                |                               |
                                v                               v
                          SQL database                       XML file

The demexp server stores the bases of participants (including their
login/password for vote) and questions. Please notice that in the long
term (after delegation and i18n is implemented), the demexp server will
also use a SQL database.

The Wdialog interface and associated SQL base would store the state of
question seen, voted, etc. for each participant, as well as maybe
WDialog state.

What could be wrong with this architecture:

 - WDialog is using OCaml, which is an unknown language. Since Thomas
   has released PyDemexp[3], it is know possible to use the Python
   language to make the web interface;

 - WDialog provides basic functionnality and OCaml allows to use about
   any frameworks, but I have sometime the feeling to reinvent the
   wheel, especially regarding web technologies.

What do you think of it? Do you think it would be better to use known
frameworks like http://turbogears.org/ ? Any Python framework you would
be aware of (except Zope, which I find too slow)?

If I'm alone to develop, I think I'll keep OCaml because it can be quite
fast (compile to native code) and it is such a nice language. But I
might change my mind the avoid the same mistake as with the client
(i.e. to gather developers). It should be notice that if we use web
technologies (like AJAX), we will use more popular languages
(javascript, HTML, CSS or SQL for example) so it might be easier to
gather developers for them.

Yours,
d.

Footnotes: 
[1]  http://www.linux-france.org/cgi-bin/demexpweb.cgi

[2]  http://wdialog.sourceforge.net/

[3]  http://thomas.enix.org/pub/pydemexp/

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