My opinion & answers : How do you explain to someone the basic core ideas behind CF and PHP. PHP is an Apache module. CF runs on a java servlet or on Jrun, Tomcat, etc. I'm honestly not the best to explain it. But I've seen the performance side, and it's good. And I've seen the code bloat in PHP files and it's bad. Yeah, I know anyone in any language can write bad code. But damn if PHP doesn't seem to be full of it. CF gives the ability to develop all kinds of applications faster and much easier way. Both were meant for Web Development and both do its job. Its matter of preference. Someone cannot put CF down just because He likes PHP. Like you said, CF has solid background since its Java based and because of that sky is the limit for CF. You can develop all kinds of applications. Biggest plus is you can develop applications way faster in CF compared to other languages out there. I can say without any doubt that programmers will continue to write bad code and it has nothing to do with CF, PHP, .NET, Java or any language.
An ATDC person asked me if CF was an interpreted language. I said yes. And then he acted as if the argument was done because so is PHP. And so, that means what?... Therefore the two are the same and equal? Ergo, you go open source because everything thinks thats best? Bad argument. I would say that since CF pages are basically compiled as Java Classes in background, its more of a compiled language. Experts feel free to correct me here. I am sure PHP is not compiled. Even if experts dont agree on the term *compiled* here, I would still sell CF with strong argument that its basically Java Classes and what it means is you can use your own java classes when needed. You can use any java api if you like. Thats huge. I repeat again, if you havent explored this area of CF, you are missing a trick. Of course, you dont have to use java but if there is a need, go for it. Needless to say, this would involve testing as well because you need to look at version etc. :-) How do you explain to someone the technical idea behind something like CF? I love this questions. I have my reasons a. CF is a rapid application development. Like you said, instead of writing 80 lines for something, we CFers do it in mayb 5 lines or so. :-) b. CF is based of well known, stable, and universally accepted language Java. c. There are so many functions available to do common tasks. d. When the task demands more, you can always go to Java to *extend* your application. Personally, to me, thats a huge plus. I can do anything with CF by using Java's power when needed. Similary, I am sure you can interact with .NET when needed. I am sure, its not easier in other languages to interact with another language or program. Big plus for CF on this one. e. Easy to learn since the language resembles html tag style f. Action Script available for people coming from JavaScripting background. g. Huge plus for people coming from Java background. They can take CF applications to another level with their Java Experience. h. Several tools available for performance, monitoring etc for CF i. Can deploy application as easy as web pages or j2ee application i.e. war file j. Can deploy application on most of the web servers out there IIS, WebSphere, JBoss, Tomcat etc. k. With CF9 even more support for things like ORM. Java guys simply love Hibernate which is the model on which CF's ORM is based. l. Last but not the least, several experts available to help out with issues or problems or open source projects. How do you explain that even in writing a PHP page that no one but you will ever use, that you don't do an 80 line open database connection call unless it's 80 lines of SQL and then, that's a whole other issue? With CF you reduce development time considerably by not worrying about small things like data connection etc. Just one administrator setting and you have a dsn. :-) Like I said, just my opinion. I can sleep well tonight having mentioned the technical idea behind CF. ;-) <Ajas Mohammed /> http://ajashadi.blogspot.com We cannot become what we need to be, remaining what we are. No matter what, find a way. Because thats what winners do. You can't improve what you don't measure. Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 11:48 AM, Derrick Peavy <derr...@derrickpeavy.com>wrote: > *I know this is kind of long and winding, but I'd love some feedback.* > > ------------ > > Starting a project. > > And, as I've discussed my coding abilities with people I meet they are > continuously giving me looks of bewildering and beguiling amusement. Not > talking about any Dick and Jane. I'm talking about folks from the ATDC, > other entrepreneurs, coders. > > Whenever I say that I use CF, they act like someone just stepped out from > the stone age. And, I don't care - that's their problem. I make money from > my skills and can handle 500k page views a day without breaking a sweat in > my applications and sleep well knowing I have no errors. But, their lack of > understanding that CF even still exists baffles me. It seems that people > believe that the only web language that exists now is PHP and possibly, Ruby > (ergo, PHP). (Hey, Bank of America is running CF. Maybe that's not a > selling point?) > > But on this new project, the folks say we need to do it in PHP so that it > can be sold off if the project works. Ok. Fine, I get that - I really, > really do and I'm actually in favor of it because I don't want a pissing > contest at that future point. But I'm not coding it in PHP. No such > fracking way. I'll help, offer guidance on DB design, help you translate CF > code to PHP if you want. Whatever. > > And yet, these people keep saying, "Hey, it's easier for you to learn PHP > if you know CF, than for me to learn CF as a PHP developer." That makes no > sense to me. > > On one code example (in PHP), the database connection was established on > line 13 in the file >>>> *$con = mysql_connect(db/id/pw) >>>> *and > then the connection was not closed until line 92 >>>> *mysql_close($con); > * >>>>>> > > Within those 80 lines of code, they did 2 http calls to external web > services, created two arrays, threw in 40 lines of comments and then > somewhere in the bottom, finally made a SQL statement. > > *WT-Flying-Frack????* > * > * > Is this what people accept? Granted, this was by someone who admittedly > said, they were a horrible developer - but then in the same breath asked me > why this would be a problem and I kind of stood there looking like I'd been > hit by a bat. > > I've never been shy about not being a university trained developer. But > I've worked with database design since 1993, and with CF for over 12 years. > So, hey, cut me some slack. I know I can't give you the lingo about why an > 80 line database connection is bad in pure technical terms, but I damn well > know that the faster, cleaner, shorter you make your database calls, the > better off you are for so many reasons. > > So, here's the question(s). > > How do you explain to someone the basic core ideas behind CF and PHP. PHP > is an Apache module. CF runs on a java servlet or on Jrun, Tomcat, etc. I'm > honestly not the best to explain it. But I've seen the performance side, > and it's good. And I've seen the code bloat in PHP files and it's bad. Yeah, > I know anyone in any language can write bad code. But damn if PHP doesn't > seem to be full of it. > > An ATDC person asked me if CF was an interpreted language. I said yes. And > then he acted as if the argument was done because so is PHP. And so, that > means what?... Therefore the two are the same and equal? Ergo, you go open > source because everything thinks thats best? Bad argument. > > How do you explain to someone the technical idea behind something like CF? > > How do you explain that even in writing a PHP page that no one but you will > ever use, that you don't do an 80 line open database connection call unless > it's 80 lines of SQL and then, that's a whole other issue? > * > > _____________________ > Derrick Peavy > derr...@derrickpeavy.com > 404-786-5036 > > “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” -Steve Jobs > ________________________ > > * > > > >