Why ColdFusion

[netsrek]

Why have you decided to code using ColdFusion over an open source solution such as PHP?
Thanks

[Newsgroup_User]

netsrek wrote:
> Why have you decided to code using ColdFusion over an open source solution such as PHP?
> Thanks

Because the organization I work for, after a thorough cost analysis
that recognizes that there is more to the cost of an application then
just the license 'cost' of the application server, has determined that
ColdFusion is a better value then PHP.

Of course my employment here is a bit self-selective since I am working
here because of my experience and knowledge with ColdFusion.

I hope that was a tasty snack for the tr.....

[netsrek]

Is it also a factor because it is quicker to develop using CF than PHP?
Thanks

[Newsgroup_User]

netsrek wrote:
> Is it also a factor because it is quicker to develop using CF than PHP?
> Thanks

It can be, but PHP and CF don't match up 100% in what they each do.
There are things that CF does faster|better|just plain PHP can't do.
But it is the same in reverse, PHP does some things faster|better|just
plain CF does not do.

So if your job is to do something PHP does that CF does not do or does
not do well it is rather silly to use CF and vice a versa.

But of course there is a GREAT deal of overlap where they both do the
same thing just fine. There are style differences that can make one or
the other easier for any given individual to pick up.

But one of the factors that free|open source advocates tend to overlook
is the cost of constantly searching for and evaluating solutions. With
ColdFusion you get a great deal of add-ons and extra features that have
fairly well been shown to work. Not perfect, of course, this is
software. Stuff like Verity, cfimage, cfajax, cfpdf, cfhttp, cfftp, ect.

In a PHP solution I would have to look for and often choose from a wide
range of solutions and then test those solutions to make sure they do
exactly what I need them to do and nothing else. Or recreate the wheel
myself. With ColdFusion this has been done for me, and I have a
specific entity (Adobe nee Macromedia nee Allaire) that I can go to when
it does not work as advertised.

In the corporate world that relationship is worth a great deal of money.
Especially in my previous position with a medical entity where there
was the, at least theoretical, possibility that a software bug could
kill somebody.

[netsrek]

Thank you so much for your detailed and well explained answer. You have been most helpful. Are you a freelance programmer by any chance.
Thanks again

[Newsgroup_User]

netsrek wrote:
> Thank you so much for your detailed and well explained answer. You have been most helpful. Are you a freelance programmer by any chance.
> Thanks again

My day gig is with the State of California, but I have been known to do
a little moonlighting on the side now and then.

[paross1]

Why not? Pick one:

It is better
It is easier to use
I am crazy
I don't know any better
Aliens made me
I like spending my company's money for "cool stuff"

Phil

[Newsgroup_User]

netsrek wrote:
> Why have you decided to code using ColdFusion over an open source solution such as PHP?

- connecting to flex/air front ends is drop dead simple w/cf
- while greatly improved, php's i18n functionality still sucks compared to cf

[Newsgroup_User]

> Why have you decided to code using ColdFusion over an open source solution
> such as PHP?

For me, I'd learned a bit of PHP but really wasn't picking it up.
I needed to program for some things (not heavy duty) but I didn't
want to become a "programmer". I kept hearing about CF and
that it was easy for the novice so I finally tried it. I agree, it was
very easy for me to pick up what I needed. Well - not that I never
have questions, but that I didn't feel totally in a foreign land!

[MaryJo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by: netsrek
Why have you decided to code using ColdFusion over an open source solution such as PHP?
Thanks

---

Also, we now have an open source option for doing CFML so that's not even much of an argument now either.

http://www.openbluedragon.org/

There is another neat alternative engine as well known as Railo which is getting some interest and depending on your needs can be fairly cheap or even free, I'm running a customer's site and really am impressed with it...and the great support its authors provide.

http://www.railo-technologies.com/en/index.cfm

ColdFusion (or more accurately CFML) really seems to be on the move!

[Paul9856147]

A major benefit of ColdFusion is its immense capability to connect Web pages to databases in order to provide dynamic and data-driven solutions. Other benefits of ColdFusion include platform independent database querying, effective sharing of application data, easy access to databases, and maintaining state information. It also offers advanced database techniques for data manipulation and active interaction with other data sources, including LDAP directories, email servers, and other web servers too. ColdFusion focuses on efficient utilization of the database features like drill-down queries, stored procedures, transaction management and task scheduling. ColdFusion also performs client and server cache management.

______________________________________________________________

Cheap Nike shox

[Hydrowizard]

What can php do better than coldfusion 8? Interested to know if there is anything (I only know php a bit but was interested by ian's answer) It would be interesting for the cfers to know (to be hits at parties etc.)

[Newsgroup_User]

Hydrowizard wrote:
> What can php do better than coldfusion 8? Interested to know if there is
> anything (I only know php a bit but was interested by ian's answer) It would be
> interesting for the cfers to know (to be hits at parties etc.)
>

My understanding is that PHP gives one more hooks into the server system
itself. If one wants a lower level control of the machine itself PHP
allows this while ColdFusion is more high level and would be more round
about if one wanted to access these low level functions, if possible at all.

[Kronin555]

I'd be curious to hear what PHP can do at a low level that can't be accomplished by dropping down to Java. I don't think I've heard one PHP feature that, if not possible in ColdFusion, can't be accomplished by using Java.

[Newsgroup_User]

Kronin555 wrote:
> I'd be curious to hear what PHP can do at a low level that can't be
> accomplished by dropping down to Java. I don't think I've heard one PHP feature
> that, if not possible in ColdFusion, can't be accomplished by using Java.
>

I would agree that Java and PHP are equivalent in level. I.E. both are
generally considered third generation, while ColdFusion is fourth.

I would suspect that while Java could do anything with the system one
would want to do. It is not always possible for that type of Java to
communicate with ColdFusion. At least not without a deeper then average
knowledge of how it all ties together. I'm speaking that there are
types of Java functions that are not as accessible to ColdFusion as
others, depending on how they are written and how they receive and
return messages.