ColdFusion Anyone?

[Websync]

The license is per server. You can happily host many CF clients on the same server.

This is good news. I continue to have issues with the pricing of Adobe software in general, but at least it is not per domain! That would be so over the top.

[bdominick]

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with ColdFusion?

Matt is right, I have many years' experience with CF -- in fact, it's the only platform I code web software from scratch on, though I sometimes install Perl or PHP scripts/apps for specific uses.

I am thinking of purchasing some shopping cart development software that comes in three flavors – ASP, PHP, and ColdFusion. I wouldn’t have hesitated at purchasing the PHP version, but these guys are raving about ColdFusion so it just made me curious.

If an app you're looking at comes in these flavors and you are already familiar with PHP, it's a no-brainer -- especially if it's OSS and you might need to hack it a bit. In my experience, CF has vast advantages over PHP, but price is of course not one of them.

Even though there is a free developer’s download of ColdFusion 8 - it only works locally. Matt can correct me here, but it seems that you must then purchase the server side software, which is pretty expensive.

This is true.

So, what do you think? Is it something that is so great that it justifies not only the learning time involved, but also the expense?

If you want to reduce your coding time -- or your dev team size -- by 2x - 3x, CF is worth the investment and learning time. Most people believe it is far easier to learn than PHP, and the scripting syntax is mindbogglingly simpler.

But that doesn't make it a good solution unless you want to start seriously coding in it. I would say that about any platform/language -- don't "learn" it if you're just going to dabble in it, and don't pay for an expensive platform unless it's going to pay off with other dividends, like the ability to offer unique packaged solution to your clients (unlikely with CF, since most types of apps are also avail in Perl/PHP/RoR/JSP/ASP, etc). The real reason to learn/run CF is to be able to code robust applications very rapidly. It's superior in most ways except it's expensive and it's not open source (if you care about that, which I don't).

[Websync]

bdominick –

Sorry it took so long to respond, but Wow! Thank you so much for all the great feedback and information you contributed to this thread. I am sure that it will help to answer many questions for other people too.

Happy Holidays

[jmarcv]

Just keep in mind that -per server - can get expensive when you need to expand to the point where, like one of my clients, you have 10-15 servers in one domain! Ouch! I have always heard very good things about CF, but my only questioning is that it looks like the product you are purchasing is not something that you will be modifying? Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like you admin it, not program in it? In which case if its not code development you are looking at, I would find out what the functionality differences are first. My 2cents

[Websync]

Just keep in mind that -per server - can get expensive when you need to expand to the point where, like one of my clients, you have 10-15 servers in one domain! Ouch!

LOL - Ouch is right! And you are correct - when it comes to programming I have more of a need to hire a freelance programmer then start trying to learn it all myself. Design and information architecture are my forte not app development, but things overlap so often in web development that it triggers my curiosity.

I first came upon CF when I purchased DW UltraDev4, but never had the opportunity to deal with it. So I have continued to have many questions and as you said, I should at least know the differences and their functionalities.

As for me, if I purchase that shopping cart software, I will go with the PHP version. I am simply more familiar it. I just want something that will allow me to easily integrate code “as I go” within a design – instead of having to deal with Open Source or third party customization. I like to create my own site structure and templates. It almost takes longer to figure out what someone else did then to just do it myself!

Your 2 cents is priceless and very much appreciated.

[bdominick]

Actually, priji, to be super technical, CF is not considered a "framework" but an environment or platform. That is, it doesn't include a coding methodology. It's wide open. There are "application development frameworks" that have been invented to work using ColdFusion, such as Fusebox and Mach II. These are coding standards, file- and variable-naming conventions, etc, that ensure dev-style consistency between applications and between developers. But CF is wide open, just like PHP, to be used in any way the code and the application server software (the platform/environment) will work together. This differs sharply from Ruby on Rails, for instance, which includes a strict framework.