tinita has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

hello monks,

I'm writing a template system. before everybody says, omg, not another one, please let me explain a bit =)

I personally like HTML::Template because of its restrictions, because it is small and easy to use. what I don't like is that it is not too fast. it's fast enough for many applications, but sometimes you want it faster =)
I also don't like that you either just have access to the current level of parameters, or to every level. another thing is the syntax TMPL_*. (ok, I know i can use filters...).
also you always have to feed it a hash, it can't work with object-methods.

if I'm wrong with some of these assumptions above or below, I'm glad if you correct me.

I've also looked at Template-Toolkit, but I'm not too happy with its syntax either. what I don't know is how fast it is and how much memory it uses compared to other systems. I haven't found a comparison in the web yet.

Well, and last but not least, I wanted to see if I can program it myself =)

one question I have is about the module name - the Template-namespace is practically "owned" by TT. As my module started from HTML::Template I called it HTML::Template::Compiled (HTC). I like the name; is it too long though?

the manpage of the current version is located at HTC.html, you can download it at HTML-Template-Compiled-0.28.tar.gz (or for the latest version my download section)

I'd be glad about any comments.
The first goal of the module is that it works with most HTML::Template files (doesn't implement all features of it, though), and that it is faster than that. it compiles the template to perl code (like TT can do).

update: I'm also interested in what features HTML::Template users would like to see implemented.

update2: I added case_insensitive var names (optional) in version HTML-Template-Compiled-0.30.tar.gz and the benchmark script is now in examples/bench.pl

update3: i'm now thinking about 'Text::CTemplate' which hides the origin but is a better namespaces IMHO.

update 27.08.2005: on CPAN now: HTML::Template::Compiled

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: developing a template system
by chromatic (Archbishop) on Aug 12, 2005 at 22:09 UTC

    If it's incompatible with HTML::Template, you probably oughtn't confuse people by using a similar name.

    CGI::Application work has lead to a lot of new features and plugins for HTML::Template lately, so I recommend instead you talk to the developers there about incorporating your compilation system; that could make H::T faster for everyone and prevent even more template system proliferation.

[reply]
      thanks, I didn't know that.
      maybe CGI::Application could use Any::Template someday, this seems like a good idea to me, to have a generalized API to all template systems.
      I'll get in contact with the developers.
[reply]
[reply]
Re: developing a template system
by perrin (Chancellor) on Aug 12, 2005 at 23:49 UTC
    Take a look at HTML::Template::JIT. It compiles HTML::Template templates into C programs. It should be much faster than the one you just wrote and supports most of the HTML::Template options.
[reply]
      yes, I've had a look on it already, but thanks.
      it also doesn't support all HTML::Template options, and it's about 4-8 times faster, while HTC was about 5 times faster in my tests. not too much faster in comparison.
      and it has the limitations of HTML::Template I mentioned before and in my manpage.
[reply]
        I'd like to see your tests. It's hard to see how your perl one could be faster, unless it is leaving out significant pieces of functionality.
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Re: developing a template system
by westernflame (Sexton) on Aug 13, 2005 at 23:57 UTC
    Maybe the best approach would be to make templating systems less restrictive. whether using a single perl script, splitting script and perl (HTML::Template) or embedding perl (HTML::Mason) there are clear disadvantages. An alternative is to join all three methods together. Have a file that is a perl script but contains the ability to include templating and embedding. For example: 
    #!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
my $script;
my $template_variable = "templating";
while(<DATA>){
my $line = $_;
$line=~s/\n//g;
if ($line=~m/^(\s*)%(.*)/ig){
$script = $script."$2\n";
}else{
$script = $script."print \"$line\n\";\n";
}
}
#print $script;
eval $script;

__DATA__
<html>
normal HTML
%print "embedding perl \n";
$template_variable

    [download]

    As little or as much templating or embedding could be done depending on the requirements of the project, without changing framework and using perl as much as possible.
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: developing a template system
by astroboy (Chaplain) on Aug 14, 2005 at 09:03 UTC
[reply]

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