Re: [Axiom-developer] Re: Setting up AxiomWiki within Zope

[Bob McElrath]

I'll try to stick to 3 sentences.  ;)

Zope is a pile of python code that is a web server and set of classes
for manipulating web-data stored in its object-oriented database via
what one could think of as a merging of server-side scripting and object
orientation.  Plone is a very pretty and popular "portal" application
built on top of Zope that allows high-level control like multiple users,
owners, access rights, publication rules, and web-based site management.
ZWiki is a powerful wiki implementation that allows several forms of
input type (StructuredText, WikiWikiWeb, MoinMoin, and now Latex) and
because it is built on Zope it is more powerful but not as simple as the
original Wiki idea.

I'll add an answer to one more question you didn't ask directly: If
you're not familiar with the wiki concept, it is intended to be editable
by anyone, simple enough that when anyone runs across it they can
contribute meaningfully by creating content or organization, the pages
themselves have a simple syntax that resembles the web-page output, and
pages are automatically interlinked via the use of camel-case
noun-phrase WikiWord .  This openness and chaos counter-intuitively
*does* result in organization, widespread contribution, and high-quality
content.  In some sense it is the opensource philosophy applied to
documents.

    http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki
    http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiDesignPrinciples

And now I've gotten beyond 3 sentences and am just rambling.  Bill and I
seem to be good at this.  So let's see how many foreign concepts we've
piled on:

    Object-Oriented
    Wiki
    Literate Programming

Not to mention LaTeX, Computer Algebra, Open Source, Zope, ZWiki, Plone.
I just hope the set of concepts most people will have to figure out
isn't so large that this project will have difficulty attracting
contributors.  Your early confusion is a bad sign...  I think I've got
them all mostly figured out except "literate programming".

Wiki's generally have a good number of "curious" edits...people that
come along and think "can I really edit this?"  "What happens if I do?"
and this is to be encouraged because it then leads to more interest...
Pages must also be simple enough that newbies can figure out what it is
when they hit "edit".  The previous discussion of literate
programming/++ comments and document sections...results in a very
complex, non-intuitive document to a newcomer...

Since this Axiom wiki is destined to be relatively complex, a good start
would be to add a simple set of instructions to the editform.

root address@hidden wrote:
> Bob,
> 
> Can you give me a 3 sentence description of the relationship between
> Zwiki, Plone, and Zope? I'm clearly confused about it.

Bill Page address@hidden wrote:
> Tim,
> 
> Let me try to do this for you (Bob: Don't let that stop
> you from doing it another way or correcting me ... :)

--
Cheers,
Bob McElrath [Univ. of California at Davis, Department of Physics]
    
    It is unpatriotic to question the Kleptocracy.