Daryl,
Here's my take on the issue , taken from another list:
johnnyb wrote:
>
> Is there any resources comparing these 3 server models - ASP, CF and JSP? What would
>be the
> main advantages/disadvantages of each?
Johnny,
Unless you're strongly into Visual Basic Script or JavaScript, CF is
easier to use and learn. For instance, to do a simple query in ASP, it
takes about 10 to 20 lines to query the database and then output the
information to a web page. In contrast CF can do the exact same task in
6 to 8 lines. ColdFusion is easier to use, less cryptic and more
powerful. If you know HTML you know about most of what it takes to code
a basic Cold Fusion Page. In contrast ASP has a much steeper learning
curve.
There's a pretty good review of Cold Fusion at
<http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,402300,00.html>
In the same set they also compare other technologies.
Compare how long does it take the average developer to set up a database
enabled site in CF, ASP or whatever. CF is much more of a rapid
development environment and considerably more efficient and
understandable. For example, the following ASP script connects to a
database and outputs the results to a browser:
<%
Set OBJdbConnection =
Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
OBJdbConnection.Open "nba_membership"
SQLQuery = "Select id, business FROM Directory"
Set RSCustomers = OBJdbConnection.Execute(SQLQuery)
Do Until rsCustomers.EOF
Response.Write (rsCustomers("ID") & " " & rsCustomers("Business"))
rsCustomers.MoveNext
Loop
%>
The same code in ColdFusion looks like this:
<cfquery name="rsCustomers" datasource="nba_membership">
select id, business from directory
</cfquery>
<cfoutput query="rsCustomers">#id# #business#</cfoutput>
ASP take 9 lines to query the database and return the results to the
browser, CF does it in 4. Both snippets do the exact same thing, but the
ColdFusion code does it more elegantly and far more simply. It uses
fewer commands, and those commands make a lot more sense. It doesn't
take a genius to figure out what <cfquery> and <cfoutput> do. The ASP is
a lot less intuitive. Also CF has integrated POP and SMTP mail
components, is fully integrated with LDAP, and has a native search
engine built into it based on the very powerful Verity97 search engine.
Elsewhere in this newsgroup some have been asking how to set up a
search. In CF its fully integrated into the server. You typically have
to pay extra for those components with ASP.
The result is that developers take far less time to develop an effective
and usable site. When you are paying developers $65 per hour or more to
develop the site, if a CF developer can set up the site in 6 hours vs.
18 or more for ASP or whatever, then you've paid for the ColdFusion
server with the money you've saved in a very short time.
Owen Palmer wrote:
>ASP servers are easier to find an often less expensive to host then CFML,
>JSP servers seem to be as rare as rocking horse shit, though I could be
>looking in the wrong place...
Keep looking Owen. CF sites are as cheap to host as ASP sites, cheaper
if you consider the number of security holes that ASP introduces to your
server. There are free ColdFusion hosting companies, such as
http://www.cfm-resources.com/. There are also some very low cost ones
like http://www.Shanje.com or http://icn.net/, both of which charge
around $15 to $25 for CF hosting.
Additionally CF works with Unix, Linux (all flavors apparently, but I
have not tested it yet), and NT. You need expensive add-ons to get ASP
to work with Unix. The last I heard Linux has no ASP support
There are several versions of the Cold Fusion Server - the FREE
ColdFusion Express, ColdFusion Professional for $1200, and the $3000
ColdFusion Enterprise Server. The version of the CF Server that comes
with UltraDev is the single user development version of CF Enterprise.
Remember too that cost of ownership is a significant factor. With longer
development times, more security concerns, etc., the cost of ownership
is far higher for ASP than CF. I'm going to focus here on development
costs.
Lets say you costing an ASP or CF programmer at $65 an hour. They are
developing 2 dynamic sites that do the exact same thing. The CF
programmer will probably take less than half the amount of time to
deliver a site than the ASP person, everything else considered equal -
remember the 4 lines vs 9 lines of code? And at $65 per hour, that's a
significantly lower cost to the client who is paying the bills.
>ASP(VBScript) is also probably easiest to pick up if your not from a
>programming background.
I think I've covered that one already. ASP can be quite obscure and
difficult to understand especially to newbies. Consider this output
snippet again:
Do Until rsCustomers.EOF
Response.Write (rsCustomers("ID") & " " & rsCustomers("Business"))
rsCustomers.MoveNext
Loop
%>
This loops through the output dataset and displays it onscreen. For a
new learner this is quite difficult to understand and debugging is a
huge problem.
Now compare it to the CF code:
<cfoutput query="rsCustomers">#id# #business#</cfoutput>
Now which is easier to learn? Anyone reasonably familiar with HTML can
probably figure out what's going on here.
Mailing the results of a form submission is as simple:
<CFMAIL FROM="#form.from#" TO="#form.from#" CC="#form.cc#"
SUBJECT="#Form.Subject#">
#Form.Message#
</CFMAIL>
Now try that in vanilla ASP. Whoops sorry you can't. You have to buy an
add on here.
regards,
larry
--
Larry C. Lyons
ColdFusion/Web Developer
EBStor.com
8870 Rixlew Lane, Suite 201
Manassas, Virginia 20109-3795
tel: (703) 393-7930 x253
fax: (703) 393-2659
http://www.ebstor.com
http://www.pacel.com
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done.
--
Daryl Fullerton wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> We use a little bit of ASP with CF from time to time.
>
> We are pitching for a contract whereby the opposition are slating CF big
> time.
> In actual fact they are saying all sorts of bad things about CF to the
> client in an effort to get the client to move to ASP.
>
> Any Amunition out there i can fire back with.
>
> I dont normally slate ASP but they have started this.
>
> Articles would be good...
>
> Appreciate the help
>
> Cheers
>
> D
>
> Daryl Fullerton,
> Managing Partner,
> BizNet Solutions,
> Allaire Premier Partner (Ireland)
> 133 - 137 Lisburn Road
> Belfast
> BT9 7AG
> N.Ireland
>
> Direct +44 (0) 28 9022 7888
> Tel +44 (0) 028 9022 3224
> Fax +44 (0) 028 9022 3223
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Http://www.BizNet-Solutions.com
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Chairman)
> Http://www.cfug.ie The Irish Cold Fusion User Group
>
>
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