Hi Nicolas. It's good to hear from you again. Nicolas Chauvat wrote: > * don't develop a web application using Apache+PHP, use Apache+mod_python and > you'll benefit from all the qualities of a real programming language. I've become somewhat familiar with PHP over the last couple years. I don't want to get into language wars, but there are some impressive features of PHP. I particularly like how a script can effortlessly switch back-and-forth betwen HTML and PHP code, without even writing a single print or echo statement. I really do prefer Python for general-purpose programming, esp. when OO is needed. But, I've found that it is indeed best to use "the right tool for the job". For example, I had recently looked into matrix programming and had narrowed my options down to 2: Python/NumPy or Octave. If you read the Python/NumPy manual, you'll see that there are tons of caveats about Python mistaking common mathematical programming notation (a la Octave/Matlab) for Python notation (Example: ' in matrix math means inverse; in Python it means single quotation mark). You don't have that problem with Octave, because the language was written for math programming. Now, I'm sure Python/NumPy can do whatever Octave can (and more), but the catches will make it more useful for programs that *have to* use Python. Otherwise, you are better off doing what I prefer these days: pipeline heterogeneus scripts on the command-line. I even use sed quite a bit :-) which is another example. > * HTML is good for displaying information, not for manipulating information. > The interface you're describing will be difficult to make and to use if > done with HTML. I agree and have even made that argument myself when describing the Piper desktop project I was working on. I have found, however, that (1) being able to shift nodes around quickly and interactively may be fun but is really not that important, (2) with imagemaps and pop-up windows, I can get pretty much the same features, and (3) the big killer: everyone has such different hardware and software configurations (and sits at so many different computers), that *anything* that can run without a download is a GreatThing[tm], for them and for me. If I had a huge team of developers with me, I might still prefer the downloadable client, but I've had such a hard time finding help, that I'm going to put manageability at the top of my list. Even finding developers to help with Bioinformatics.Org is difficult: money makes the world go around. > If you really want to stick with a browser-based approach and > can't stand distributing a client (Python+GTK?), then look into Javascript, > DOM2 and CSS that can provide you with many missing parts (drag and drop, > refreshing parts of the screen only, etc.) I haven't looked into using DOM2 with HTML. I'll check it out. Thanks. Cheers. Jeff -- J.W. Bizzaro jeff at bioinformatics.org President, Bioinformatics.Org http://bioinformatics.org/~jeff "As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously." -- Benjamin Franklin --