Episode: 711
Title: HPR0711: Klaatu and Verbal chat about web2py
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr0711/hpr0711.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-08 01:18:39

---

Hi everyone, this is Quattu and I'm at the Indiana Linux Fest and I'm talking to
Robel.
Hey, Robel.
Hey, how's it going, Quattu?
Pretty good.
So I just saw your talk, which was really, really good.
And this is the first talk that you've given, right?
Yes, yes it is.
It's your big debut.
That's my coming out party.
Beautiful, beautiful.
This is why I'm here.
So it was on Web2Pie.
So could you tell us what Web2Pie is?
Web2Pie is a Python based web application framework.
So if you have an application that you want to put on the web, you might want to try to
look at a Web2Pie to get it done.
OK, and why would I use Web2Pie instead of, for instance, PHP or Ruby on Rails or something
like that?
Well, or would I?
Mainly, the main reason is Python.
You really need to know Python if you want to use Web2Pie and like Ruby on Rails, I've
looked at that and that's of this product, you know, it's great.
But it really mainly comes down to your programming language of choice.
OK.
Now, in your demonstration today, which went really well by the way, I was like every time
I see a demo that doesn't, you know, horribly fail every other step the way, because I mean,
that's just how demos are.
Right.
They break.
That's what they are designed to do.
You get in front of 30 people and make a fool of yourself.
But yours worked.
So I was impressed.
But anyway, aside from that, when you were doing it, you were talking about the Rocket Web
Server.
Right, Rocket Web Server.
So is that part of Web2Pie as a separate project?
What is this?
What happens with Web2Pie?
Well, Web2Pie is actually composed of lots of different open source applications, like
Rocket is a Web Server.
It has an editor.
I think it's nice that it has JQuery, of course, you know, and it has all these different
components that make up one big application.
Yeah.
And I guess the other thing is that even though it uses Rocket as a Web Server, that doesn't
stop you from using like Apache, EngineX, Lighty, or some other type of Web Server that
you choose to use.
It's just that, you know, you don't have to figure out a Web Server, how to install it,
you know, right off the bat.
Right.
This makes it easy for you.
Then, once you're familiar with it, you might want to swap out, you know, don't use
Rocket or EngineX or Apache or whatever.
Okay.
Cool.
It's really, really surprised and pleased at how easy it looked to set up.
I mean, you installed it right in front of us, right?
And then you had it up and running, like, I mean, it was like, like a couple of seconds.
It was, and that's for real, right?
That's right.
Okay.
Okay.
Thank you.
Which is funny, because my wife says, why don't you, you know, just, you know, record
a screencast.
Right.
Yeah.
But I think a lot of people, when they come to these events, they really want the interaction
of one-on-one.
Yeah.
So, I've never really seen, and just, you know, like, here's a script, yeah, like, if you're
going to do that, you might as well just put it on, up on the whip, like two-foot down
on it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
It's cool.
I'm just wondering, I mean, like, when did you come to a DeFi, what was, I mean, were you
already really good at Python, and this was just, like, the natural choice, or did you
quit?
I'm not really good at anything.
Okay.
Cool.
I started Web2Py using Web2Py.
I saw a demo, I've been long to the Chippy, and that, that's the Chicago Python user
group.
Oh, okay.
And, man, if some really smart people go to that, like, user group or log, not me, I'm
just going to want to be.
But I saw a demo there, and at the time, I was looking at different Web frameworks, Python
based, because that's sort of my language of choice.
And so I was looking at things like Django, I was looking at Highlands, and Turbogears,
and I looked at, you know, these different frameworks, and some of them just briefly,
because, you know, I only have so much time.
And I really, really liked the fact that Web2Py was very, very easy to install, and yet,
you can swap out components, and once you've got familiar with it, you can do lots of
customization.
Okay.
And then you said that, like, the website actually had a lot of pre-made sort of appliances,
you called them, I mean.
Right.
So, in theory, if there was something really common that you thought you wanted to do,
you could probably find most of them already done for you.
Right.
And that's wonderful, because, you know, once you start marring it, it's really nice
to be able to look at pre-written code that works, and maybe just modify it.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, I guess, again, like, why are you finding for yourself that Web2Py is better suited
for what you're trying to do, aside from, for instance, like, I don't know, something
else that's pre-made, like, drew bull, or something like that, you know, there seems
to be all kinds of things that are kind of pre-written, ready to kind of drop in almost,
make a couple of tweaks, and just set it up.
But it sounds like, I mean, do you prefer to do it with Web2Py, because you like hacking?
Or are you doing it with Web2Py, because nothing else quite fits what you need, so you
have to build it.
Well, I like hacking.
I like hacking.
Okay.
I brought my first computer, like, in 1985, I think it was, I bought a Commodore 64, and
I was really, you know, confused by that.
I didn't know, like, hoax and peaks and things like that.
Yeah, yeah.
And it confused me, and so I took it back, and then, later on, I got an IBM PC Jr., and
at that time, you know, I was really, really interested in computers and what they can do.
And I had a choice.
I could either get a PC Jr. for $1,000 for $4,000.
They were $1,000 bucks.
$1,000 back then, or I could get a true IBM PC for, like, maybe $4,000.
I knew I didn't want to spend $4,000 for something.
I really didn't know what I was going to use it for, so I bought the PC Jr. and that's
how I got started.
So, yeah, I do really, like, enjoy hacking, and I mean, things like Drupal, and it's good,
it's modular, but I just really like to be able to customize every app.
That's the aspect of an application that I'm working on.
Right.
Cool.
All right.
So, and you've been using Web2Pi for a while, you said, right?
Since about, maybe, 2007.
Okay.
And it's not like I use it like every day, or I might have a project, I'm like, oh, yeah,
I'll just code something and web2Pi, and I might not use it for, like, another month,
or whatever, and, you know, I'll go back to it, but, hey, that's how you do.
And how much SQL did you know?
I was pretty, pretty, um, proficient with SQL, like that.
Okay.
Cool.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to Hacker Public Radio.
sponsored in part by caro.net.
So head on over to caro.net for all your hosting news.
Thank you.
Thank you.