My biggest complaint with the language is the lack of user-defined
functions. I know that custom tags are sorta a work-around, but sometimes a
function just needs to return a value, not just assign a value back to the
calling template. Also, there's no way (that I know of at least) to pass
values by reference, or declare static variables within the scope of a
custom tag. While PHP doesn't have the simplicity that CF has in terms of
database twiddling, and its error handling leaves a bit to be desired, it
does have support for user-defined functions that may contain variable
references and static variables, and that helps me out a lot.
--
Jamie Keane
Programmer
SolutionMasters, Inc.
9111 Monroe Rd., Suite 100
Charlotte, NC 28270
www.solutionmasters.com
704.563.5559 x 228 Voice
704.849.9291 Fax
-----Original Message-----
From: Gregory Harris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Monday, August 28, 2000 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: What I want in CF (was: Learning ASP)
Ok, my wish list now:
1) How about a way to determine whether a dimension exists in an array, for
instance this works:
ArrayLen(ThisArray)
But if ThisArray were a 2 dimensional array and I needed to figure out the
length of something in dimension 2, using this
ArrayLen(ThisArray[DimensionOne]) breaks the page
Rather than having to go thru the excess overhead of trying to use a
counter, maybe extending Arraylen could help this? Or how about a
ArrayDimensionExists() function?
2) Extending CFHTTP (I think this is a BIG one)
3) Making Structures Multi-Dimensional, or is it possible to do structures
like:
Stuff.Things.MoreThings = ThisVariable
This has never worked with me, the best I could do would be Stuff.Things
I'm sure there are more headaches I've run into, but these are right off the
top of my head. What else can everyone think of?
Gregory Harris
Los Angeles Information Technology Agency (ITA)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/28 11:11 AM >>>
>>> Dave Watts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
I agree that the interfaces for SMTP, POP, HTTP, etc. need a lot of work. As
for other stuff, I'm kind of curious. What basic functionality would you
like to see? I can't really think of all that much that I'd like to see
added.
<<<
Personally, I've got a laundry list. :) However, off the top of my head,
in no particular order (I mentioned most of these at The Con last year, and
will do so again if I go this year):
1. Extend the CFX API to make it more useful. There are some things (like
working with arrays, as Jeremy mentioned) that don't work or are hellishly
hard to workaround. Some of us (very few, I know) *like* to work in C++ and
*like* to optimize our stuff by putting it in machine code.
2. Fix the encryption. It's really *really* broken.
3. (or, in deference to or addition to #2) Support for "compiling"
templates. We know that they already do this in memory (something akin to a
p-code or bytecode type thing), but what I'd like to see is the ability to
take that compiled chunk of memory and save it to a file. Python has this,
as does Perl (in a limited sense). This would do two things for me: (a) It
would mean that even though people could still "decompile" it, they'd still
have to figure out var names, etc. (b) It would save the overhead of
parsing the file every time.
4. Better regular expression engine. (Especially non-greedy matching.)
5. Better locking system. (This is a whine.) It's all fine and good to put
the burden of the locking on the programmer (who has to go absolutely crazy
on the CFLOCKs in a production system), but I'd really like to see something
a bit better. I dunno how, but I know they have some pretty smart people
who can surprise us.
6. Binary data support for variables. (Unicode?) Right now I can't
(reliably) mess around with binary files. :(
7. Fix CFHTTP! Please! In the current implementation so much is broken
it's not even funny!
a. Not thread-safe (gah!)
b. Can't use CFHTTPPARAM (and therefore cookies) without the POST method.
(lame)
c. Can't select encoding type (multipart/form-data doesn't work
everywhere) - at least make it smart enough so that if no files are attached
it doesn't use multipart! (exceedingly lame)
d. The hack for port is *stupid*. If I want to access an arbitrary URL that
could be on any port, I have to manually parse out the port number from the
URL and put it in the PORT attribute and at the same time take it out of the
URL string (it barfs otherwise!). (mired in a sweaty mass of lameness)
8. Fix PreserveSingleQuotes() - Right now it doesn't act like a real
function. I can't do other things in it. That is,
PreserveSingleQuotes(ListChangeDelims(list,"','")) is broken. (This is my
most common use for it.)
9. Fix the standard structures (Form, Client, etc) to actually work like
structures, so that I can enumerate them, delete from them, etc. Having to
GetClientVariables() or get Form.FieldNames is just annoying (and doesn't
let my code be nice and transparent.) Did they fix thix in 4.5? I think
they are getting closer, but I think it is still broken?
Hmmm ... I'm trying to think of all the things I constantly have to hack
arround ...
. Passing arrays (even scalars) by reference instead of value.
. Accessing structure members in the order they were added, instead of
having to hack around it with a parallel list/array. (However, I know how
hashes work, so this probably wouldn't be worth it.)
. ListSort(list[,type[,order]]) - Hacked around with arrays
. ListEliminateDuplicates(list) - Hacked around with structures (and arrays
if you need to preserve order)
. ListSlice(list,start,length) && ArraySlice(array,start,length) - or,
better yet, ListSlice(list,start,length,newlist), so that I can dynamically
replace the middle of a list (newlist doesn't have to be as long as length,
tho)
. QuerySetRow(query,"valuelist"[,row]) or QuerySetRow(query,array[,row])
(preferred)
. QueryDeleteRow(query,row)
. QuerySort(query,column[,type[,order]])
. StructMerge(struct1,struct2) - Iterates over struct2 assigning its keys to
struct1 (overwriting if necessary)
I think that's it for now ... like I said, that's just off the top of my
head. Anyone else?
-Rick
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