Back in the saddle

For the past week I've been working on a project that finally gets me back into real web development (as opposed to the faux-web dev I've done for the past several months with Oracle APEX and doctoring up a hairball Windows Perl script.) New weapons in my arsenal this time around are CGI::Application, DBIx::Class, and Template Toolkit, which together give me a fairly good set of loosely-coupled MVC-oriented tools.

I tried Jifty, but the lack of Oracle support was a deal-breaker for me. (Sent in a bug fix to help that effort along, though.) Also tried Catalyst, but couldn't get my head wrapped around it. Maybe I'm just too stupid for these full-stack kits, and will need a couple go-arounds with the more lightweight CGI::App before making another attempt.

The smallness of CGI::App is definitely a draw, though. The full-stack MVC toolkits impose a pretty strict application structure -- so much so that they use helper scripts to set it up for you. (Ruby on Rails obviously popularized this trend.) CGI::App lets me put together a quickie module hidden behind a small instance script, and then grow it as needed. Heck, I could see myself rewriting this site (dude, the band's been dead for two years, move on) with a thin CGI::App shell for the blog, and then adding bits as the mood (and free time) strikes.

So, yeah. After another several month drought, this is my second post in as many days, and it's another geekfest. Oh well.