Kepler in a nutshell

Kepler is a Web development platform.

So what? There are many of those. What´s special about Kepler?

• It is implemented as a set of Lua components, so it offers the same advantages as Lua: it is Simple, Portable, Light and Extensible (SIMPLE)

• It runs under Windows, Linux, OSX and a number of other operating systems

• It allows the use of SQL, LDAP, XML, SOAP and other standards

• It is free software and uses the same license as Lua

The Kepler Platform is an ongoing effort developed through the Kepler Project, which is coordinated by Fábrica Digital and PUC-Rio. Some components are being developed by the Kepler Project team and some are external.

For more information please check the Kepler FAQ or contact us. Comments are welcome!

Why should I use Kepler?

Web development platforms offer a number of building blocks that make creating Web applications a lot easier than starting from scratch. There are a number of great Web development platforms out there but none balances power, size and flexibility quite like Kepler does.

Kepler is Simple, Portable, Light and Extensible (SIMPLE). That does not mean that it can only be used to build simple applications. You can develop quite sophisticated Web applications with Kepler. So what does SIMPLE mean?

• Simple: like Lua, Kepler is easy to learn, easy to deploy and easy to use. Developers around the world report dramatically higher productivity when using Lua and Kepler.

• Portable: It runs on Windows, Linux, OSX and other operating systems. In fact, Kepler can run on just about any operating system that has an ANSI C compiler. But odds are you don´t need to compile anything: you can download binary executable files for most major operating systems from LuaForge.

• Light: Kepler can be used under very strict memory and CPU scenarios. While every Web platform in the market will run on powerful computers, most of them wouldn't even try to fit in a mobile device or custom hardware. Kepler has been used to develop full-fledged Web applications running on devices ranging from smart phones and PDA´s to Windows/Linux/OSX big boxes.

• Extensible: Kepler offers a powerful combination of general use components. But, should you want to, you can create your own component and extend the functionality of Kepler. And, if you´re feeling community-oriented, you can contribute your component to the Kepler platform.

Another benefit Kepler inherits from Lua is a very efficient implementation. Independent benchmarks such as the Gentoo: Intel® Pentium® 4 Computer Language Shootout place Lua as faster when compared to Python, Perl, PHP and Ruby.

Quick start

To use Kepler you just have to download it and follow the install instructions.

A good option for starters is to use Kepler with Xavante, the easiest way to set up a web server and start using Kepler.