Could someone please explain to me how the current python webframworks fit together?
The three I've heard of are CherryPy, TurboGears and Pylons. However I'm confused because TurboGears seems to use CherryPy as the 'Controller' (although isn't CherryPy a framework in in it's own right?), and TurbGears 2 is going to be built on top of Pylons (which I thought did the same thing?).
There are more to it ofcourse.
Here's a comprehensive list and details!
Extract from above link:
Popular Full-Stack Frameworks
A web application may use a combination of a base HTTP application server, a storage mechanism such as a database, a template engine, a request dispatcher, an authentication module and an AJAX toolkit. These can be individual components or be provided together in a high-level framework.
These are the most popular high-level frameworks. Many of them include components listed on the WebComponents page.
Django (1.0 Released 2008-09-03) a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design
Pylons (0.9.6.2 Released 2008-05-28) a lightweight Web framework emphasizing flexibility and rapid development. It combines the very best ideas from the worlds of Ruby, Python and Perl, providing a structured but extremely flexible Python Web framework. It's also one of the first projects to leverage the emerging WSGI standard, which allows extensive re-use and flexibility but only if you need it. Out of the box, Pylons aims to make Web development fast, flexible and easy. Pylons is built on top of Paste (see below).
TurboGears (1.0.4.4 Released 2008-03-07) the rapid Web development megaframework you've been looking for. Combines CherryPy, Kid, SQLObject and MochiKit. After reviewing the website check out: QuickStart Manual
web2py (currently version 1.43) Everything in one package with no dependencies. Development, deployment, debugging, testing, database administration and maintenance of applications can be done via the provided web interface. web2py has no configuration files, requires no installation, can run off a USB drive. web2py uses Python for the Model, the Views and the Controllers, has a built-in ticketing system to manage errors, an internationalization engine, works with MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite , Oracle, MSSQL and the Google App Engine via an ORM abstraction layer. web2py includes libraries to handle HTML/XML, RSS, ATOM, CSV, RTF, JSON, AJAX, XMLRPC, WIKI markup. Production ready, capable of upload/download of very large files, and always backward compatible.
Grok (0.13 Released 2008-06-23) is built on the existing Zope 3 libraries, but aims to provide an easier learning curve and a more agile development experience. It does this by placing an emphasis on convention over configuration and DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself).
Zope (2.10.4 Released 2007-07-04, 3.3.1 Released 2007-01-14, Zope 3.4.0c1 Released 2008-01-31) Being the grandaddy of Python web frameworks, Zope has grown into a family of frameworks over the years. Zope 1 was released in 1999. Zope 2 is both a web framework and a general purpose application server, today it is primarily used by ContentManagementSystems. Zope 3 is both a standalone framework and a collection of related libraries, which are also included with newer releases of Zope 2. All of the Zope frameworks include the ZODB, an object database for Python.
If you are looking for a start-to-finish solution then it's worth mentioning that the leader of the pack in that space is Django
CherryPy is not a full-stack web framework (like Django for example), in fact it isn't a web framework but a HTTP framework. Writing a web application using CherryPy is much like writing a regular object-oriented application in Python. Also, CherryPy has it's own production-ready WSGI web server, which can be also used for applications written using other frameworks, hence the confusion surrounding CherryPy as a framework.
Give a try to web2py. It is point and click (you do not even need to install Python, comes with it). You develop using a web interface and you can deploy almost everywhere, including iPhone, Oracle and Google App Engine. Before trying web2py, try install some of the other Python frameworks, you will appreciate it even more.