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From: Brian Pontarelli <brian@pontarelli.com>
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Subject: Re: If your evaluating new template engines, what about ZipScript
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 08:32:11 -0600
References: <c50136680807311533k6c45063r2961d4055b67285c@mail.gmail.com>
 <48929F62.6020307@alsutton.com>
 <8b3ce3790808010320t3eca5912sf0044a644ff5a38@mail.gmail.com>
 <c50136680808010535re4efdc3s8db1fb07671b3a05@mail.gmail.com>

As I'm never a big fan of relying solely on the fact that technologies  
have been "used", I'd compare feature sets. Here's what I like from GXP:

- Pre-compile for performance
- Type safe
- Injectable
- White space reduction
- l10n and i18n support (although difficult to determine exactly how  
they work)
- Componentized
- Auto-escaping

Here's what I don't like

- XML syntax yet again
- Somewhat complex
- Lacking sufficient documentation for all features

I haven't yet, but I would be comparing feature sets rather than usage.

At the same time though, they can both be used for results. I'd  
probably only want to use one of them for tag files to reduce  
complexity, but anyone interested in writing a pluggable tag system  
could easily support both for tag files as well.

-bp


On Aug 1, 2008, at 6:35 AM, Joe Hudson wrote:

> Thank you for taking the time to evaluate zipscript.
>
> This is not currently being used in any real world apps because it is
> new.  That is certainly a valid concern.  It is kind of a catch 22
> because how can you ever be used in a real world app if people only
> want an engine that is being used in a real world app?
>
> Anyway, I'd like to address my assumption of your main concerns
> regarding real world app usage:
>
> 1) Is it reliable?
> All of the functionality is unit tested before a release is performed
> and there are many unit tests which can be seen here:
> - Unit Tests: http://code.google.com/p/zipscript/source/browse/#svn/ 
> trunk/core/src/main/test/test/hudson/zipscript
> - Referenced Templates and Results:
> http://code.google.com/p/zipscript/source/browse/#svn/trunk/core/src/ 
> main/test/templates
>
> 2) How does it perform?
> There is a unit test that merges a template consisting of multiple
> macro references (called PerformanceTest)
>     http://code.google.com/p/zipscript/source/browse/trunk/core/src/main/test/test/hudson/zipscript/PerformanceTestCase.java
> This test, when performed on my laptop, can perform 1000 merges in
> about 1 second.
>
>
> As to the other issues of porting to other languages.  That isn't
> currently in the plan now but certainly would be something on the
> plate if this language got a foothold.
>
> Joe
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 6:20 AM, Ted Husted <husted@apache.org> wrote:
>> For me, it's the "real world apps", *plus* the interest in porting  
>> GXP
>> to other platforms, like C++, and Ruby. Personally, I'd like to add  
>> C#
>> to that list. ASPX, like JSF, has its charms, but many .NET  
>> developers
>> (including me) would like alternatives.
>>
>> I do find the zipscript YUI examples interesting, since we are also
>> looking for an alternative approach to supporting Ajax with the  
>> Struts
>> tags.
>>
>> -Ted.
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 1:30 AM, Al Sutton <al.sutton@alsutton.com>  
>> wrote:
>>> Joe,
>>>
>>> My main reason for backing GXP is that it's been used in high  
>>> volume "real
>>> world" apps by Google and so has been proven to scale.
>>>
>>> Does ZipScript have the same real world testing, and if so where  
>>> is it used?
>>>
>>> Al.
>>>
>>>
>>> Joe Hudson wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> With all the talk about GXP, I wanted to let you know about another
>>>> template engine called ZipScript (zipscript.org).
>>>>
>>>> Ok, you're probably saying... another one??? but this has some
>>>> distinct advantages and I would love for you to give it a try - I
>>>> really think you'll be happy you did.
>>>>
>>>> 1) it can be used to create complex UI components
>>>> 2) it has a powerful non XML-based syntax (which is helpful since  
>>>> the
>>>> most common output is XML)
>>>> 3) it can also be used to get more than just text from expressions
>>>> (like booleans or objects) - great for having smarter config
>>>> properties
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Here are some quick links:
>>>> - homepage:
>>>>        http://zipscript.googlecode.com
>>>> - Yahoo! UI macro examples:
>>>>        http://code.google.com/p/zipscript/wiki/YUIMacros
>>>> - Language Syntax Examples
>>>>        http://code.google.com/p/zipscript/wiki/SyntaxExamples
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Joe Hudson
>>
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