PEAK Release 0.5 alpha 1

 Copyright (C) 1996-2002 by Phillip J. Eby and Tyler C. Sarna.
 All rights reserved.  This software may be used under the same terms
 as Zope or Python.  THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.
 Code quality varies between modules, from "beta" to "experimental
 pre-alpha".  :)


 Package Description

    PEAK is the "Python Enterprise Application Kit". If you develop
    "enterprise" applications with Python, or indeed almost any sort of
    application with Python, PEAK may help you do it faster, easier, on a
    larger scale, and with fewer defects than ever before. The key is
    component-based development, on a reliable infrastructure.

    PEAK is an application kit, and applications are made from components.
    PEAK provides you with a component architecture, component infrastructure,
    and various general-purpose components and component frameworks for
    building applications.  As with J2EE, the idea is to let you stop
    reinventing architectural and infrastructure wheels, so you can put more
    time into your actual application.

    But PEAK is different from J2EE: it's a single, free implementation of
    simpler API's based on an easier-to-use language that can nonetheless
    scale with better performance than J2EE.

    PEAK is the successor to TransWarp, an experimental toolkit for software
    automation in Python.  PEAK takes the best of the techniques and ideas
    from TransWarp, and repackages them as an enterprise software toolkit.
    Where TransWarp emphasized techniques like generative programming and 
    aspect-oriented programming, PEAK emphasizes enterprise applications,
    and hides the computer science stuff "under the hood", so you can focus
    on building your application.

    PEAK tools can be used with other "Python Enterprise" frameworks such as
    Zope and the Python DBAPI to construct web-based, GUI, or command-line
    applications, interacting with any kind of storage, or with no storage
    at all.  Whatever the application type, PEAK can help you put it together.
    
 Installation Instructions

    See the INSTALL.txt file.