mod_php vs mod_python

Question

Why mod_python is oop but mod_php is not ?

Example :We go to www.example.com/dir1/dir2

if you use mod_python apache opens www/dir1.py and calls dir2 method but if you use php module apache opens www/dir1/dir2/index.php

Answer 1

Let's talk about mod_python vs. mod_php.

Since the Python language is NOT specifically designed for serving web pages, mod_python must do some additional work.

Since the PHP language IS specifically designed to serve web pages, mod_php simply starts a named PHP module.

In the case of mod_python (different from mod_fastcgi or mod_wsgi), the designer of mod_python decided that the best way to invoke Python is to call a method of an object defined in a module. Hopefully, that method of that object will write the headers and web page content to stdout.

In the case of mod_wsgi, the designer decided that the best way to invoke Python is to call a function (or callable object) in a module. Hopefully that function will use the supplied object to create header and return a list strings with the web page content.

In the case of mod_php, they just invoke the module because PHP modules are designed to serve web pages. The program runs and the result of that run is a page of content; usually HTML.

The reason mod_php works one way, mod_python works another and mod_wsgi works a third way is because they're different. Written by different people with different definitions of the way to produce a web page.

The php page can be object-oriented. A mod_wsgi function may be a callable object or it may be a simplef unction. Those are design choices.

The mod_python requirement for a class is a design choice made by the designer of mod_python.

The reason "why" is never useful. The reason "why" is because someone decided to design it that way.