I think you're missing the point of a templating system. It has nothing to do with making sure that your display logic doesn't have any programming stuff in it. In fact, I am switching from HTML::Template to Template Toolkit precisely because it has better programming stuff in it.

Within MVC (which it seems you do use - good for you!), you will have three programming layers, hopefully separated by rather strict APIs. Each of the layers, most likely, will have a ton of programming in them, and that's ok. Very often, one cannot convert a data structure into something to be displayed without it.

The notion that templating systems should be as dumb is possible is a mis-meme, promulgated by the facts that

Yes, good display logic is expensive. Sometimes, the only way to do something is to drop into a full-featured language. So?

Remember something - a popular templating system for Windows programs written in Visual C++ is Visual Basic.

Being right, does not endow the right to be rude; politeness costs nothing.
Being unknowing, is not the same as being stupid.
Expressing a contrary opinion, whether to the individual or the group, is more often a sign of deeper thought than of cantankerous belligerence.
Do not mistake your goals as the only goals; your opinion as the only opinion; your confidence as correctness. Saying you know better is not the same as explaining you know better.

In reply to Re^6: HTML::Template - what's the rule of thumb? by dragonchild
in thread HTML::Template - what's the rule of thumb? by kiat

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