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copied!<p>You can't easily compare PHP and Python.</p> <p>PHP is a web processing framework that is designed specifically as an Apache plug-in. It includes HTTP protocol handling as well as a programming language.</p> <p>Python is "just" a programming language. There are many Python web frameworks to plug Python into Apache. There's <a href="http://code.google.com/p/modwsgi/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">mod_wsgi</a>, CGI's, as well as web application frameworks of varying degrees of sophistication.</p> <p>The "use to put PHP where I want" is not really an appropriate way to judge Python as language for building web applications.</p> <p>A framework (like <a href="http://pylonshq.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pylons</a>, <a href="http://www.djangoproject.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Django</a>, <a href="http://turbogears.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TurboGears</a>, etc.) separates the presentation (HTML templates) from programming from database access. PHP mixes all three aspects of a web application into a single thing -- the PHP language. </p> <p>If you want to switch from PHP to Python you must do the following.</p> <ol> <li><p>Start with no preconception, no bias, nothing.</p></li> <li><p>Start fresh with a tutorial on the framework you've chosen. Do the entire tutorial without comparing anything you're doing to PHP.</p></li> <li><p>Start fresh on solving your chosen problem with the framework you've chosen. Build the entire thing without comparing anything you're doing to PHP.</p></li> </ol> <p>Once you've built something using a Python-based web framework -- without comparing anything to PHP -- you can step back and compare and contrast the two things. </p> <p>Folks who ask questions like <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1300610/python-substr">Python - substr</a>, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1219548/java-and-python-equivalent-of-phps-foreacharray-as-key-value">java and python equivalent of php's foreach($array as $key => $value)</a>, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1031192/what-is-python-equivalent-to-php-server">what is python equivalent to PHP $_SERVER?</a> are sometimes trying to map their PHP knowledge to Python. Don't Do This.</p> <p>The only way to start using a Python web framework is to start completely fresh.</p> <hr> <p><strong>Edit</strong></p> <p>All Python web frameworks have some "presentation logic" capabilities in their template engines. This is a "slippery slope" where you can easily turn a simple template into a mess. Clearly, a simple <code>{% if %}</code> and <code>{% for %}</code> construct are helpful to simplify conditional and repetitive elements of an HTML template.</p> <p>Beyond that, it starts to get murky how much power should be put into the tag language.</p> <p>At one extreme we have PHP/JSP and related technologies where the template engine can (and often does) do everything. This turns into a mess. Is the middle are <a href="http://jinja.pocoo.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Jinja</a> and <a href="http://www.makotemplates.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mako</a> where the template engine can do a great deal. At the other end is Django where the template engine does as little as possible to avoid mingling presentation and processing logic.</p>

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