Re: Choosing a Templating System

[Starky]

Thank you! That's something that will be of great value to people. I hear folks asking about templating in Perl quite frequently, and they are often intimidated by the number and type of options.

I have 2 comments:

1) Something really needed in the community is a full-scale book on building web applications using Perl a step above simple CGI scripts. That is, a book focusing on available application server framworks such as PAS or Mason for building small-to-mid sized, robust and scalable templated web applications. (Hint, hint!)

2) If you have occasion to give the presentation again, I would suggest you take a look at Text::Templar. The documentation is excellent, and I've found it a pleasure to work with.

Again, thanks!

[perrin]

Thanks for the feedback. FYI, O'Reilly has a Mason book in the works, and SAMS has a mod_perl book coming out that will include some info on templating tools.

UPDATE: I've just looked at Text::Templar, and I don't see anything there that isn't done (better) by Template Toolkit. Similarly, PAS seems to be a less mature clone of Apache::ASP/Mason/Embperl, and contrary to what the authors imply, I don't see it having any real advantages over those systems. In my opinion, these people would be better off contributing their time to one of the more mature projects rather than duplicating them. Even if there is something that isn't covered by existing systems, adding it would probably be easier than reinventing this entire wheel.

Don't get me wrong: writing a templating system is fun, and everyone should try it. We just don't need all of them on CPAN and Sourceforge.