As a "Web Monkey" and someone who doesn't come from a programming background (copywriting and graphic design), I am very happy that there is a language like Coldfusion that is easy to learn, yet powerful enough to do anything I need it to. I am also very happy I don't have to write lines of code like foo = (x++ == (row = y * 2)) ? --y + 4 : (x *= 4 == row ? --row : row++ )); - I think my poor little monkey brain would explode.
For me, CF is a very logical language (the first item in an array is number 1 - well der!) and it is very easy to get started on. I did the CF of Dummies course, bought a copy of the CF Bible, lurked on this excellent list and I'm away - very close now to launching my big bright new CF site. For those that say that ColdFusion is ugly and cluttered, I have to disagree. The structure and the use of clear plain English tags makes it very easy to go back and see what is going on. That's a good thing. If people go changing CF to make it more attractive to lovers of foo = (x++ == (row = y * 2)) ? --y + 4 : (x *= 4 == row ? --row : row++ )); then they'll lose people like me. While some snobby programmers might think that >= is better than GTE and not change, there will be plenty of new people like me who will jump on board because it makes sense. Tom MacKean -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Adam Cameron Sent: Monday, 6 December 2004 3:05 PM To: CFAussie Mailing List Subject: [cfaussie] Re: Enhancing CFSCRIPT (was: Using IIF > I'd be interested to hear a commercial business argument in favor of Rightly or wrongly, I think a lot of developers coming from other languages take one look @ CF and go "nah: toy", and don't look any further. And one of the symptoms of this toyishness is going to be when they see stuff like: <cfif i GTE j> instead of: if (i >= j) CF is just plain ugly, and the code looks toyish. If CF didn't have that (superficial) effect on people, they might give it more time, and give it a go, and find out that it *is* a "real" language, and get into it. It's the people at the bottom of the food chain that make the community, and give a product impetus. More people using something means it's easier to hire (and replace) people to do it, and simply just hearing about something more often makes a product seem more appealing, if only due to familiarity. I think in a lot of situations an IT Manager might go "Oooh! Bells! Whistles! I'll have one of those!", but more often they'll grab demo copy of it, chuck it to the developers, and ask what they think. And if they all just snort and go back to hacking PHP, the manager ain't gonna buy it. > getting Macromedia to spend lots of time and effort on bringing > CFSCRIPT up to ECMAScript compliance as opposed to spending that time > and effort on adding new functionality to ColdFusion. That's a serious > question... I have to say that it would be far more important to me to cfscript-ify more CFML tags than ECMA compliance on operators, to be honest. I think CF is trying to move on from positioning itself as "a tool for web monkeys to pick up more easily", and more into "serious language" (why would they bother with CFCs otherwise... 95% of CF developers hav no need for them), and to be a more serious contentder, you've got to make an effort to appeal to more serious developers. But, really, I'm always just talking personal preference, and don't think in terms of "business cases"; I think in terms of "what would make my life easier, and make me happy". Completely selfish :-/ Adam --- You are currently subscribed to cfaussie as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Aussie Macromedia Developers: http://lists.daemon.com.au/ --- You are currently subscribed to cfaussie as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Aussie Macromedia Developers: http://lists.daemon.com.au/
