Zope goes beyond server-side scripting languages like PHP by providing a complete object framework, a built-in Web server, a Web-based management interface, and load-balancing through ZEO (Zope Enterprise Objects). That's a considerable punch, and Zope is attracting increasing interest from developers looking for an alternative to heavyweight commercial application servers. Zope is implemented in Python, an object-oriented scripting language, and runs on Windows, Linux, and Solaris.
Written by Zope developers, this title is concise and to the point. It is aimed at people new to Zope as well as current users, although some existing knowledge of Web technology is necessary. The book is organized into three parts. The first part is introductory, outlining how Zope works and explaining basic DTML (Document Template Markup Language), a tag-based language for server-side scripting. The second, and longest, part tackles users and security, scripting with Python or Perl, using Zope's built-in search engine, and connecting to relational databases. Part three covers scaling and extending Zope, with a short chapter on ZEO and information on creating your own custom Zope classes. Reference material is contained in two appendices, one for DTML and the other for the core Zope API.
The Zope Book offers an excellent, high-level view supplemented by more detail for the most common development tasks. The authors refer you to Zope's documentation or other resources for the most advanced or specialist topics. The result is ideal for evaluating Zope, and also useful for getting started with Zope projects.
