Re: [Webware-discuss] Experience to share: using WebWare, DocumentTemplate , HTMLGrid

[Mark P. <ma...@mo...>]

On Dec 30, 2004, at 2:57 AM, <web...@th...> wrote:

> Please allow me to remain stubborn in my support of DTML : I have 
> developed,
> with my team, multiple web apps using DTML and yes, every
> language/technology has its pros and cons, but talk of "the mess that 
> is
> DTML" just isn't coherent (at all) with our experiences ...

I appreciate your position. You have been successful with this 
technology, so why would anyone knock it?

The difference may be approached with the question of "what is a 
programming language?". This may seem fundamental but there is, imho, a 
tendency to consider templates and such as programming languages when 
they merely script. That is to say they are simply the structured data 
used by the underlying programming language.

To some, there is no "language" in programming at all. To others this 
or that isn't a "programming language" if you cannot compile it to 
machine code. Beyond that, in the 4GL region of the universe, there are 
a multitude of things that look a lot like programming "languages".

In this context, DTML may be seen as more complicated that it needs to 
be. And there is the notion that building a "framework" upon a 
framework is redundant. More to the point, the elegance of a solution 
lies in the efficiency of the framework, the velocity a team can attain 
and the resilience of the architecture to the inevitable change in 
requirements.

In the end, and as far as end users are concerned, if it works I am a 
hero. If it doesn't I am a goat.

Happy new year,

Mark Phillips