I have been using my mod_python Mako handler for several months now in my personal projects. For the most part, I have been very happy with Mako and am finding it extremely useful. One issue I have had to wrap my head around has been the inability to halt template execution cleanly. A common practice in many a website has been to flush the current output buffer, display the required authentication information with a form or a redirect, and then end the request—making authentication required on a page of content.

Once again, my Wordpress friends had to hit me up for some help. These are the same friends that I helped with a Custom Field Search Plugin. They have been maintaining a community site, SuccessNet Online™, and an email mailing list of several hundred thousand participants for Business Networking International.

I have been using the mod_python handler to parse Mako templates for about a month now in a personal project. As I have done more and more development on my project, I have naturally encountered shortcomings and errors in my handler.

One of my personal goals this Winter has been to learn and start using Python. Learning new languages and putting them to use is something I try to do about every year. Like so many others out there, messing around with Perl in college really has had an impact on my professional career. Being a professional web developer who uses Perl—especially through Apache/mod_perl—it was only natural that I began looking at building out a small site using mod_python. Little did I understand how much of a minefield I was stepping into!