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Mod_Python apache question.

Steve Holden steve at holdenweb.com
Sun Sep 26 20:48:00 EDT 2004 
Ian Pellew wrote:

> Hi all;
> 
> Am I correct in thinking that Mod_Python simply executes Python
> scripts from the server side using an internal Apache python engine?
> 
Well, it's a bit more complex than that, because mod-python allows a 
single Apache instance to run many instances of the Python interpreter, 
so that several different areas of the web can have independent Python 
namespaces, module lists, and so on.

> Can a web page have Python script embedded in it like Java as well?
> 
On the server side, that depends on the handler. Mod_python lets you 
install your own handlers, and provides a couple to get you started: PSP 
allows you to embed Python in your server-side content and have it 
executed during the generation of the content on the server.

On the client, well, that depends on the client. Technically it's 
possible to deliver cient-side Python to the browser in a similar way to 
  the way Java applets are delivered, but in practice that requires 
Python support on the desktop client machine running the browser. This 
is, sadly, far less widespread that the Java virtual machine that 
supports Java applet execution. Mark Hammond's win32all module does 
allow you to do this, but for quite a while now you've had to explicitly 
enable it due to the security risks it brings with it, I believe.

regards
  Steve
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