Rapid Application Development
using
Free and Open Source Frameworks
RAD Solutions Private Limited
220/226, Sekhar Enclave
Lane 3, Biju Pattnaik College Road, Jayadev Vihar
Bhubaneswar 751015
info@radsolutions.co.in

Why RAD
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Today's world is agile
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Requirements and business rules change dynamically
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New application requirements emerge everyday
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Traditional software development methodologies and
tools are no more adequate
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Rapid application development and maintenance is
needed!
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Moving towards RAD
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Switching from statically typed languages like
Java or .Net to dynamically typed languages
like Python, Ruby
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Using cutting edge MVC frameworks
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Using FOSS software development tools
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Dynamically typed
languages
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5-10 times more productive than Java or .NET
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Features making it so productive
– Dynamically typed
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Type checking is done at run-time
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classes and functions are objects, can be created and
altered at runtime
– No Compilation cycle
– Concise
– Powerful
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Freely redistributable

Why we prefer Python
over Ruby and others
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Popular
– Availability of Libraries, tools and frameworks
– There is a good deal of free and open source
software available in Python for all kind of
activities
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Faster
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Some features like internationalization is
better supported
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A few references
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http://home.pacbell.net/ouster/scripting.html
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http://www.ferg.org/projects/python_java_side-by-side.html
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http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=4639
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Freely redistributable

Leading RAD Frameworks
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Turbogears
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Pylons
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RoR
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Django
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Zope
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You may be interested to read
Why I chose TurboGears
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Freely redistributable

TurboGears

Turbogears
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Rapid web development mega framework
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A pack of many best-of-the-breed free and
open source frameworks for developing
complete web applications
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MVC pattern
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database-driven, ready-to-extend application
can be developed in minutes
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Sample application
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Let's develop a sample application in minutes!
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Refer http://radisfun.com/Tutorials
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Freely redistributable

Unique features of
TurboGears
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Full support for SQLAlchemy – the complete ORM
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Collection of best-of-the-breed components
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Numerous widgets available
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Identity management
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Form validation
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Being used by many vital products like TinyERP
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Freely redistributable

Components of Turbogears
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Database ORM: SQLAlchemy, SQLObject
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Controller: CherryPy
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Template engine: Genshi, Kid
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Javascript/AJAX library: MochiKit
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Automated testing: Nose
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Others: Widgets, Identity Management,
FormEncode
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SQLALchemy
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The king of ORMs in Python
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Mapper pattern – no restriction in mapping to
complex databases
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Can handle composite primary keys
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Powerful enough for complicated tasks
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Extremely easy to use for all the basic tasks
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Freely redistributable

CherryPy
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The application server of Turbogears
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A pythonic, oo web app framework
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Maps URL request to Python methods
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CGI variables are mapped to method
arguments
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Freely redistributable

Genshi
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The templating engine of Turbogears
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Templates are well-formed XML
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Supports template inheritance and XSLT-like
matching
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Designer-friendly: viewable in browser
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Freely redistributable

MochiKit
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The Default JavaScript/AJAX library of
Turbogears
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Pythonic JavaScript library
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“ Makes JavaScript suck less”
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Well-documented
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Reliable (lots of automated tests)
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Freely redistributable

Others
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Some other components of Turbogears are:
– Identity management
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User, group, permission scheme
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IP-based access control
– Widgets
– Form Validation through FormEncode
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Freely redistributable

For Management

Benefits of Turbogears
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Better products can be developed much
cheaper and faster
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Developed products are easily maintainable
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Developers enjoy the development and
maintenance cycles
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Learning curve is lesser
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Customers get the “ time to market” advantage
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Benefits of Turbogears
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Business processes and back office
operations can be easily automated
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Web solutions can be developed quite easily
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Provides agile solutions, which do not resist
change
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Achieves Productivity Arbitrage
– the competitive advantage gained by delivering
solutions below market price, but incurring lower
delivery cost by using new technologies.
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Benefits of Turbogears
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Rapid prototyping
– Customers say “ I may not know how to define my
application, but I’ ll know when I see it.” With
Turbogears, the prototype could happen faster, in
multiple cycles
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Iterative development is enjoyable
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Conclusion
The cutting-edge MVC RAD frameworks are the
answer to the agile business solutions of
tomorrow
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References
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http://sanjaypatel.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-i-chose-turbogears.html
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http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
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http://www.turbogears.org
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http://www.sqlalchemy.org
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http://www.cherrypy.org
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http://genshi.edgewall.org
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http://mochikit.com
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Thank You!