I agree with most of Matthews comments. One of the other reasons is historical. A lot of Web developers came from hacking HTML to building web apps. CFML (ColdFusion Markup language) was a easier jump than the alternatives like PERL, C or ASP (as you needed COM to do anything). It has a great deal of built-in functionality, a easy typeless language and is tagged based like HTML. This was great when you were trying to train HTMLers to something simple like send an email from a site. At the same time, "advanced" uses can still use LDAP, COM, java or Corba from the cf language. Even in version 2 of CF is was so much quicker to "DO SOMETHING" in CF than Perl etc..
The current version of CF has new features that any oo developers will recognize, components, inheritance etc. It occupies a space somewhere between a scripting language and a programming language. This has it's advantages and disadvantages. OO developers might be frustrated by the missing OO features of CF (example: no overloading functions Ahhh!) and some of the language quirks (example: no i++, only i = i + 1; a IS b, instead of a == b or a===b etc.) But having said all that, some people never will get Java or C++, but I've never met ANYONE who couldn't understand the basics of CFML (Even my Dad :-) ). So the learning/ productivity / RAD nature of CF is a big bonus. As for your situation, if you have a load of C++ , java people in your organization, CFMX might not be of any use to you. Regards Justin > -----Original Message----- > From: Matthew Horn [mailto:mhorn@;macromedia.com] > Sent: 07 November 2002 16:10 > To: JRun-Talk > Subject: RE: CFMX/J2EE > > > I don't use CF either, but I think I can answer some of your questions. > > CF is a RAD environment including a nice administration console > and a huge, easy-to-use tag library. CF tags pre-date JSPs and > tag libraries, and as a result are more robust and fleshed out > because they have been in development for 7 years or so. In many > people's opinions, the CF tag set is much simpler to use than > JSTL or any of the other tag libraries on J2EE. CF also has a lot > of other nice time-tested extras that you don't get from > free-ware. The emphasis is on making complex tasks easy to do in > a short time. > > Why is CF now on J2EE? Previous releases of CF ran only on a CF > server and were therefor limited to the platforms that CF > supported. In addition, they were not as extensible as other > "open-standards" environments. The most recent release of CF runs > on the major J2EE servers (or as a standalone with it's own > server -- JRun). The server environment is as extensible as Java > is now; you can use all the J2EE goodies (like Struts, JSF, JDOM, > ..., and are not tied into a single vendor for the future. > > I am sure there are others with more experience that can give you > more details. > > -----Original Message----- > >From: Haseltine, Celeste [mailto:CHaseltine@;magticket.com] > Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 10:31 AM > To: JRun-Talk > Subject: RE: CFMX/J2EE > > > Drew, > > I'm not a CF developer, nor am I very familiar with CF, other than knowing > that it is a proprietary tag language based on Java/JSP/Servlets. I'm a > J2EE/C++ developer and software architect. But I am curious as to the > business reasons why I would want to develop an application using both CF > and J2EE, inclusive of EJB's. Why not do the whole thing in J2EE > using many > of the "free" tag libraries that are available? I've seen more > of this type > of approach being covered in discussion threads out on the web, > but they are > technical discussions only. Is there a business reason (i.e. cost savings > in development time/manpower/salary, savings in maintenance over life of > product, etc) for taking such an approach that you have seen/experienced? > As an architect, I have to take both the business and the > technical reasons > into consideration when designing a new project and coming up with the > Project Schedule/budget/manpower forcasts. > > Thanks in advance for any comments/past experiences that you can share. > > Celeste Haseltine, PE > MTL, Inc > Dallas, TX > > > -----Original Message----- > >From: Drew Falkman [mailto:drew@;drewfalkman.com] > Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 10:02 PM > To: JRun-Talk > Subject: CFMX/J2EE > > > Hey all- > > I just wanted to let you all know that our new book on CFMX/J2EE > integration > is out. It is part of Ben Forta's Reality ColdFusion series, so includes 5 > different application and goes through the process of creating each - > allowing the reader to understand the process behind the > application and why > we used J2EE where we did. Plus you get 5 fully functional apps: a portal, > CRM app, B2B exchange, e-commerce (with EJBs) and an XML content > syndication > engine. > > If you are interested go to http://www.forta.com/books/0321129482/ or > contact me directly. > > Hope all is going well with everyone. > > Thanks, > > Drew Falkman > Veraison, LLC > http://www.drewfalkman.com > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=8 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=8 This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting.
