Those of you who have been following me on Twitter will know that I've recently decided to focus on learning Python, and looking into python-based web frameworks like django and pylons. As I've been reading through the various materials about python, it strikes me that its a very clean language, and more importantly, multi-purpose. Generally my development is done in either PHP or C#, and whilst the same can be said C#, PHP has always been all about the web. Of course, it can do a lot more than that, but first and foremost it solves the problem of building web applications. To this end, I have never used it for general shell/admin duties such as deploying sites - this job has fallen me using manual deployment in the past and Capistrano more recently.

Whilst I like the solution provided by Capistrano, its always seemed a little bit strange to use a Ruby-based tool to deploy sites which are never anything to do with ruby. Yes - I'm picky. However, since I will be heading further into the world of python, I thought now is as good a time as any to see if there is a python-based alternative. The answer is yes - Fabric

You may have noticed the lack of blog posts here recently. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it, I've just been busy working on my final year project for Uni. This is now complete and handed in, and hopefully earning me a decent grade.

I developed a web-based application for virtual software teams - that is, teams of people working on software development who are not located within the same office or area. They are normally distributed across different countries and time zones, often different continents. The tool I produced is designed for companies who engage in this type of development and have the resources to provide an intranet which spans all the locations. This way, security from outside tampering is pretty much a moot point. However, I did note whilst I was doing it that not everyone has this sort of arrangement and that open-source development follows much the same pattern: many developers, many locations, yet somehow communicating and collaborating on a single project. Perhaps it would be possible to extend and evolve the system to be useful to a broader range of people.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by a friend for my thoughts regarding the use of the Zend Framework to create a site where the content for some pages could be stored in a database and managed by a simple content-management style administration area. Normally the MVC paradigm works well for web-based applications - probably part of the reason it has become so popular recently - but it does not as easily lend itself to this sort of system. Since the content (effectively the view) is stored in a database, there is very little for the traditional MVC 'view' component to do. Also, there is the problem of URLs. However, with a little thinking about the problem, I came up with a simple demonstration application allowing storage of pages within a database system.

I have been meaning to start a blog for myself for a significant period of time now, but for one reason or another have never got around to creating it. However, I have finally done it. I will use this blog to write about various technical issues and solutions I come across, and hope that some of it helps others facing similar problems.

If you encounter any problems or have any suggestions for the blog, please either leave a comment here or use the contact page to let me know.

Enjoy.