Forum OpenACS Q&A: Response to A Technical Paper on Java

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Posted by Dan Wickstrom on
"Sure, it could, but there is no support for that in OpenACS right now"

Sure there is. All the elements of the MVC paradigm are contained within openacs. You have the templating system for the view, .tcl pages for the control, and the db for the model. I'll admit that the view is limited by the templating system, as there isn't any support for rendering content in anything other than html, but I would be willing to bet that 95% of the content rendered by servlet engines ends up as html. Also there is nothing inherently limiting in openacs that prevents us from adding xsl/xslt support in the future.

As far as page flows, I don't see where there is a problem for implementing control operations in openacs. Usually the page flows are a linear sequence of operations, and they are quite easy to follow.

I also don't see what you're trying to get at by comparing page flows to the MVC. paradigm. So what if your control logic is implemented by a java class, a tcl proc or a page flow operation in openacs. The servlet method is not inherently easier to understand or implement. In fact, I would submit that it is much more difficult to develop with servlets, because you have a much bigger api, and hence a much bigger learning curve for becoming productive in the servlet environment.

Bryan - when acs-java 4.5+ comes out, I'll take a look at it, but right now it doesn't exist as a released package. I've looked at acs-java, and I have to admit I can't get a clear package of how the new java version will work. It seems bigger, more complex, and I don't have clear idea of wether it will be easier or more difficult to develop in the new java environment. My impression from following the java dev bboards is that the new java acs will be extremely complex, and developers will have a long learning curve in order to become productive. I will be impressed, if it turns out to be easier to develop in acs-java compared to developing in acs-tcl.