David Mintz wrote:
Flame me for starting this, I know it might get religious. But: an
organization of which I am a member is evaluating proposals to rebuild
its website. One of those proposals is from some folks who apparently
are partial to ColdFusion. All I know about CF is what I just picked
up from skimming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColdFusion. Recognizing
my bias towards languages that I speak, I try to keep an open mind. I
am interested in hearing what you guys think about CF. I know I can
expect a PHPish bias in this forum but I also know there are a lot of
independent-minded, non-dogmatic, clear-headed, breath-takingly wise
and knowledgeable... have I flattered you enough yet?
I worked in CF for a couple years before moving to PHP. This was around
version 5 (it's been about 7 years).
CF was quick to learn and allowed me to get the job done. The language
provided plenty of built-in goodies including database connections, ftp
and scheduling. Anything that wasn't built in could be added using cfx
tags and cfscript. My biggest issue back then was the inevitable "tag
soup". Tag Monsoon might be more appropriate. Also, most libraries -
and even tutorial sites - cost $$ (akin to ASP) - at least back then,
which was a no-no for the just-starting-out full time web developer that
I'd been at the time.
To its credit, as a local network manager for an international financial
software company downtown, I bought a CF book for $20 from a street
vendor and changed the entire company's support / service branch for the
better by providing an intranet based on their orginal access database
which they (ahem *I*) used to ftp from/to 5 offices internationally
every Friday. That was after about 3-5 weeks with that book and a copy
of homesite (now dreamweaver). I spent about a year with that app
thereafter and it became incredibly difficult to maintain because of the
tag soup I mentioned above, but to start - and to learn, quick and easy.
I'm sure it's become a different beast since the move to the Java code
base. But if they're still all about the tags, I'd recommend against.
After I left that job, I moved to PHP and rarely, if ever, looked back.
Happily.
Good luck!
Mark
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