If you're serious about wanting to understand how "the engine" works
before actually getting into using OpenACS, you'll probably want to
read:
- About AOLserver, as the APIs it provides are rather central to
everything
Philip's old
Introduction to AOLserver
articles are probably still good choices here. There are likely
others.
- About SQL and Tcl, of course. Again Philip's old tutorials
(SQL
and
Tcl
for Web Nerds) are probably adequate to give you a feel.
- Some of the principles and ideas that lead to OpenACS.
Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing
is probably still good background here.
- Much of the
OpenACS docs.
In particular, probably the requirements and design docs for the ACS
Kernel, the request processor, and the Templating System.
- Probably the core data model. The data model is the single most
important part of the system, but I don't have a tutorial link handy
to give you, sorry.
I just came up with the list above off the cuff, so I wouldn't
necessarily call it complete or ideal list, but it seems like a pretty
good place to start to me, given what I understand of your goals.
Still though, Bob, you'd be better off explaining to us just what it
is you're trying to accomplish. That you "want to understand the
engine" is awfully vague. Are you trying to evaluate whether you want
to use OpenACS? Looking for ideas on how to improve some other
system? Writing an article comparing OpenACS to other tools? What?
