[Catalyst] template comparison (was: why not mason

[Max Afonov]

This just isn't true. First and foremost, why does your Mason template 
even think about considering direct usage of DBI? In a <table> tag? With 
a raw SQL query? Can't one set $c->stash->{rowset} to whatever DBIC 
returns, and then declare:

<%args>
    $rowset
</%args>

Suddenly, the $rowset is available in your template without you having 
to fetch it manually. Or you could just use $c directly since it's set 
up as a global variable, at least when you're inheriting from 
C::V::Mason anyway.

This is not to say that I've seen apps written entirely in Mason so that 
Mason bears the duties of the model, view, and controller, all at the 
same time. Catalyst, however, gives us the ability to relieve it of any 
extra duties outside of pure display of data.

Jonathan Rockway wrote:
> Max Afonov wrote:
>   
>> Why don't I _ever_ hear about Mason on this list? How is TT better than
>> Mason anyway?
>>
>> ...not meaning to start a flame war...
>>     
>
> Mostly because mason becomes an unreadable mess, just like PHP.  Take a
> look at the RT source code, or my clever example here:
>
> Mason:
>
> <table><% my $sth = $dbh->prepare('SELECT columns FROM table WHERE
> something=1'); for($row = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref){ %></table>
>
> That Other Language:
>
> <table><?php $sth =
> mysql_execute_a_query_or_something_omg_this_is_long("SELECT columns FROM
> table WHERE something=1");
> for(mysqllni_get_those_results_out_of_the_result_handle($sth) as $row){
> print "<tr><td>". $row['0']. "</td><td>". $row['1']. "</td></tr>"; }
> ?></table>
>
> TT (in Cat with DBIC):
>
> <table>
> [% WHILE (row = rows.next) %]
> <tr>
>   <td>[% row.name | html %]</td><td>[% row.whatever | html %]</td>
> </tr>
> [% END %]
> </table>
>
> ClearSilver (with some preparation in the view):
>
> <table>
> <?cs each:row = rows ?>
> <tr><td><?cs var:name ?></td>
> <td><?cs var:whatever ?></td></tr>
> <?cs /each ?>
> </table>
>
> Mason and PHP are both fine tools, but they are a little too flexible.
> If you want web designers to be able to work on your templates, then you
> can't have "print" statements in your template.  If you want your code
> to be maintainable, you can't prepare your database queries in the
> template.  Mason and PHP degenerate to things like the above example
> because it's really easy to let happen.  (Look at the RT source.  Good
> people working on it.  Completely useless templates.)
>
> TT definitely lets you write bad code too, but [% EVAL %] is off by
> default (and hence I omitted it in my example).  ClearSilver ensures
> that you don't do anything code-wise in your templates, at the cost of
> not being able to do anything code-wise in your templates :)
>
> Pick the system you like, but be aware of the problems that PHP and
> Mason encourage.
>
> Regards,
>
>   

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