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version 1496, Wed Nov 26 23:53:22 2003 UTC version 1713, Sun Mar 7 23:51:25 2004 UTC
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 PEAK Release 0.5 alpha 3  PEAK Release 0.5 alpha 4
   
  Copyright (C) 1996-2003 by Phillip J. Eby and Tyler C. Sarna.   Copyright (C) 1996-2004 by Phillip J. Eby and Tyler C. Sarna.
  All rights reserved.  This software may be used under the same terms   All rights reserved.  This software may be used under the same terms
  as Zope or Python.  THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.   as Zope or Python.  THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.
  Code quality varies between modules, from "beta" to "experimental   Code quality varies between modules, from "beta" to "experimental
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     larger scale, and with fewer defects than ever before. The key is      larger scale, and with fewer defects than ever before. The key is
     component-based development, on a reliable infrastructure.      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      PEAK tools can be used with other "Python Enterprise" frameworks such as
     Zope, Twisted, and the Python DBAPI to construct web-based, GUI, or      Zope, Twisted, and the Python DBAPI to construct web-based, GUI, or
     command-line applications, interacting with any kind of storage, or with      command-line applications, interacting with any kind of storage, or with
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  Package Features   Package Features
   
     As of version 0.5a3, PEAK features include:     Far too many to list even briefly here: see FEATURES.txt for a very high
      level overview.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
     * A component binding framework that makes it easy to parameterize  
       components and thus more easily combine and "wire" them together.  
       Interfaces, adaptation, and "assembly events" (notification when  
       components have been engaged as part of a "complete" application)  
       are all available.  
   
     * A comprehensive configuration framework that allows accessing  
       "utilities" and "configuration properties" in context.  Properties  
       and utilities can be loaded or computed on demand, supplied by rules,  
       defined in configuration files or code, in a supplied or custom  
       format.  Properties and utilities are contextual and can be safely  
       acquired from parent/context components automatically.  
   
     * Naming system/framework that's midway between J2EE's JNDI and CORBA's  
       cosNaming in features, but much easier to use and extend than either  
       of those systems.  
   
     * A storage management and persistence system, including:  
   
         - Atomic, multi-database transactions with two-phase commit.  
   
         - "Data Manager" class framework for persistence management, that  
           allows you to separate business logic from storage implementation.  
           If you can write a few simple methods like "load" and "save" for  
           a given object type and storage approach, you can create your own  
           "DM" components.  You can think of a DM as an advanced form of  
           Python "shelve", that supports references to other objects,  
           transactions, arbitrary back-end storages, and caching.  
   
         - "Stackable" data managers: one DM might serialize a set of objects  
           to XML, which could then be stored in a database record by another  
           DM, and then the database record might be implemented via a DM  
           that writes to disk files!  Each DM only needs to know how to  
           manipulate objects offered by the next-level DM, not the details  
           of the next DM's implementation, so all the DM's are potentially  
           replaceable with alternate storage mechanisms.  
   
         - RDBMS and LDAP connection framework based on the Python DBAPI,  
           that handles data type conversions (via the configuration  
           framework) and seamlessly integrates with the transaction system  
           and naming services framework.  DB Connections can be accessed  
           by name or URL, and bound as default collaborators or utilities  
           for access by other application components.  
   
     * CASE/modelling tools: PEAK includes APIs to read object  
       models created in the XML-based XMI format.  Many open-source and  
       commercial modelling tools support XMI, inlcuding Argo/Poseidon and  
       MagicDraw UML.  PEAK includes pre-built support for UML versions 1.3  
       and 1.4, and MOF 1.3.1, using XMI versions 1.0 and 1.1. (UML 1.5,  
       CWM 1.0, CWM 1.1, and XMI 1.2-2.0 are anticipated for version 0.6.)  
       Also included is a MOF->Python code generator, which was used to generate  
       the UML support, and which you can use to generate support for other  
       modelling languages based on the MOF.  
   
       For the specifications of XMI, MOF, CWM, and UML, visit:  
       http://www.omg.org/technology/documents/modeling_spec_catalog.htm  
   
     * A domain modelling framework for creating "business object models"  
       with unidirectional and bidirectional associations, generated  
       getters/setters and validators for fields, etc., and all necessary  
       persistence support for use with the PEAK storage framework.  Domain  
       types can also define string parsing and formatting syntax, so you can  
       create domain-specific data languages or just string formats for data  
       types (such as specialized date/time or currency types).  
   
       The business object framework supplies structural metadata about  
       classes built with it, so you can query a class for its fields and  
       links, and their names, types, etc.  This can be useful for  
       implementing model-driven storage or user interfaces.  And the  
       metadata is aligned with the MOF, so generating MOF, UML, or CWM  
       from PEAK models (and vice versa) is possible (although  
       not yet implemented for anything but MOF->PEAK).  
   
   
   
   
   
   
     * Application Runtime tools, including:  
   
       - a "command objects" framework for creating command-line applications,  
         including the ability to create "executable configuration files"  
         or "configuration interpreters" that can load a configuration file  
         and run an application instance constructed using the configuration  
         data.  Supported formats include an .ini-like PEAK format, and  
         arbitrary schemas defined using ZConfig.  
   
       - a "periodic tasks" framework for executing tasks that perform "as  
         needed", scheduling themselves in response to their available workloads  
   
       - a CGI/FastCGI publishing framework that uses 'zope.publisher' to  
         publish a PEAK component tree and its associated transaction service  
   
       - an event-driven "reactor" framework that seamlessly integrates with  
         Twisted, but can also be used without Twisted for applications that are  
         mostly scheduling-oriented, or which use only third-party protocol  
         implementations such as FAM, FastCGI, ReadyExec, etc.  
   
       - a robust and flexible logging framework that can integrate with the  
         PEP 282 logging module, or stand alone.  It's simpler than the PEP 282  
         system for simple log configuration, and is configured on demand  
         rather than "up front", and is thus more manageably configurable for  
         large or complex applications consisting of components from diverse  
         providers.  
   
       - a "process supervisor" framework for multiprocess servers using  
         long-running child processes (created via 'fork()') to take maximum  
         advantage of multiprocessor machines for CPU-intensive services.  
   
     * AOP and SOP: PEAK allows you to separate concerns as modules, then  
       combine the modules via a "module inheritance" technique.  This  
       lets you define a generated business object model as a  
       "structural" concern, and then combine it with a "behavioral"  
       concern.  This is as simple as writing classes that contain only  
       what you want to add, and then telling PEAK that your new module  
       "inherits" from the generated module.  This is similar to (but  
       designed independently from) the "MixJuice" tool for AOP in Java.  
   
   
  Known Issues and Risks of this Version   Known Issues and Risks of this Version
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      please see the 'src/kjbuckets/COPYRIGHT.txt' file for details of its       please see the 'src/kjbuckets/COPYRIGHT.txt' file for details of its
      license.       license.
   
        The 'csv' module is part of Python 2.3 and above, and is included for
        backward compatibility in Python 2.2.  See the Python license for license
        details.
   
      The 'datetime', 'persistence' and 'ZConfig' packages are Copyright Zope       The 'datetime', 'persistence' and 'ZConfig' packages are Copyright Zope
      Corporation and contributors; please see the 'LICENSE.txt' files in their       Corporation and contributors; please see the 'LICENSE.txt' files in their
      directories for details of their licenses.       directories for details of their licenses.
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