Filed under: Business, Developer, Internet, Adobe
9 ways ColdFusion 8 will rule web development
Ben Forta and Adobe are getting into full swing with ColdFusion 8 Scorpio Pre-Release tour. Last night Ben gave us in Seattle a taste of things to come. Here is why it will kick the tar balls out of everything else on the market.- Built in AJAX widgets. Create AJAX windows, auto complete forms, calendar popups, grids, WYSIWYG editors, and much more. All using simple ColdFusion based tags and generating industry standard solutions such as Prototype and Yahoo User Interface Javascript.
- Native JSON support. ColdFusion components now know if they are called by a web browser and will return JSON formated data automatically. You can also create JSON packets directly or consume them and turn them into native ColdFusion objects.
- .NET (and Java!) integration. Pull in .NET objects and use them like native ColdFusion objects. Combine .NET and Java on the same page if you like. Easily the best web based middleware solution.
- Microsoft Exchange integration. Love it or hate it, most organizations use Exchange religiously. Now you can read and update email, calendars, tasks and much more. No change to the Exchange server is required.
- Flash based presentation builder. Combine HTML, Audio, Flash Movies, Images, and CFCharts to create spiffy flash based presentations on the fly. Just wrap your existing pages in CFPRESENTATION and you are on your way.
- Full PDF integration. Create, combine, update, and interact with PDF files using CFPDF and CFPDFFORM tags.
- Native image manipulation functions. Blur, sharpen, draw, rotate, stream to browser, and much much more. This finally brings ColdFusion's image support in line with PHP and other frameworks while keeping it so simple that even I could use it.
- Across the board enhancements. Improvements in security, speed, Flash Forms, Report Builder, and more.
- Administration API. Now you can access, audit, and snapshot all the information the server knows about itself. No longer is ColdFusion a black box. Audit long running processes, most frequently run queries, and bottle necks. SnapShot the server before making your change or doing a reset so that you can analyze potential problems later.
ColdFusion 8 Scorpio should land sometime in mid-2007. You know I'll be there.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
admin@tjdit.cn said 9:48AM on 1-28-2008
Thanks for sharing.
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Ebby said 2:36PM on 2-16-2008
Wots the noise about! The taste of the puddy is in the easting. Coldfusion is a lovely language, i mean its simply super for those wise enough to adopt it. After a month of study, my first application was an Evoting site, next an instant messaging application with flash, cold fusion and sql server. and now several applications outside a browser, still using the leverage of coldfusion. I think the thing is how far can u think and apply the language you know, and maybe how much stress do u like (i think people love long coding). Cold fusion is very easy to learn, manipulate and apply flexibly to different situation.
Dont be surprised, am just a year + old with coldfusion. I think Adobe should promote their thing. Promote their software and certifications. In my country Microsoft, Cisco and Oracle are making loads of money from exams ( i quess) cus dats wot every1 writes.
no beef.
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Beginner said 2:03AM on 5-12-2008
I am new to web development but I found out that CF is a lot easy to learn than PHP, only that PHP is free and CF is not.
And they say that most apllication server today is PHP, is that true?
Thanks
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trevor bayliss said 10:59AM on 5-09-2008
Coldfusion is the best, why do people not like it? Because they have paid to go on microsoft courses and now realise that they screwed up when the coldfusion developer did the work three months ago and they are still messing around with the basics!! coldfusion 8 does everything except for make your coffee-that is coming in coldfusion 9 a new tag called cf_starbucks that email`s starbucks and they send you your coffee to your home. If you are a webdeveloper do yourself a favour and learn coldfusion and start making more money in less time with sick features like inbuilt ajax.
Adobe is the new owner of cf and did OK with photoshop and flash and dreamweaver so get with it luddites.
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Beginner said 2:28AM on 5-12-2008
When I first made my comment I was using ColdFusion 5 to learn ColdFusion, but when I learn trough this blog site that ColdFusion 8 developer Ed. is free to download I immediately download ColdFusion 8 from Adobe.
And my reaction is WOW, its totally different from ColdFusion 5 as if I was riding in a P38 Mustang(ColdFusion 5) then suddenly I find my self inside the cockpit of an F23 Raptor (ColdFusion 8).
To the people of Adobe keep up the good job. But also please make some free edition for people like us who are interested to learn ColdFusion but don't have the capacity to buy the full version of the said software.
So again to the men and women of Adobe thank you and keep up the good job.
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Noman said 1:52PM on 6-05-2009
Just goto Dice.com and type ".net" for search.. over 5K jobs come up.. then erase .net and type flex.. mere 700 jobs come up !!!
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London said 9:01AM on 4-25-2007
YAY !!!!!
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Eric said 4:52PM on 4-24-2007
I also heard that it will run on Java 6! That is reason enough for me to use it.
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Todd said 5:05PM on 4-24-2007
The one person I know who still uses it says its cool, but Adobe is gonna end-of-life ColdFusion soon, with the requisite, nasty forced migration to Apollo/Flex/Flash.
RIP ColdFusion 1999-2007
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Adam said 5:12PM on 4-24-2007
@Todd
Adobe brands ColdFusion as the fastest and easiest backend to integrate with Apollo/Flex/Flash. They work together, not against each other, so I doubt there'd be any reason to drop it. There's still a large CF community out there anxiously awaiting this release -- it just happens that they don't make it to Digg where their voices are widely heard too often. :)
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mblair said 5:38PM on 4-24-2007
As a longterm CF developer, I am really about this version. So much good stuff :-) The great thing about CF is that when married to a decent framework like Fusebox or Model-Glue you've got an extremely fast path to developing applications. It's an excellent language for those that like to develop solid things quick.
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Peter Tilbrook said 8:13PM on 4-24-2007
I started using ColdFusion way back in 1995. And it still blows me away today. Scorpio is an important version. Adobe are already thinking about ColdFusion 9.
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Damon Cooper said 10:31AM on 4-25-2007
Hi there guys (and Todd)....
This is the official word:
ColdFusion has a long, long, long life ahead of it, with MANY releases yet to come.
Anyone who says otherwise is misinformed or simply spreading FUD for whatever reason.
Please send anyone saying so my way so we can help clear this up once and for all.
Damon Cooper
Director of Engineering, ColdFusion
Enterprise Business Unit
Adobe Systems, Inc.
dcooper@adobe.com
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ultrafastneal said 3:52PM on 4-25-2007
Once upon a time I swore by ColdFusion. Then Macromedia bought it and killed the beloved CF Studio, and ultimately the integrated debugger. Degugging with output lines and/or a trace output page is a nightmare.
This is, without doubt, the main reason Cold Fusion has lost so much market share. Without an integrated debugger, the platform will only lose more programmers every day. For all you CF language lovers out there, you would be amazed how much more you can achieve with a language that has a real debugger. Give Java or .NET a try. Oh yeah, and both Java and .NET are FREE.
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david said 4:47PM on 4-25-2007
Way to go Damon! Every time the "death watch" for CF is started, there's an even more kickass version released!
CF losing market share? Are you kidding? It's growing so fast the phone is ringing off the hook with job opp's. Rates are up too :-)
Can't wait for Scorpio...Now we'll be able to integrate AJAX in half the time too....ka-ching :-)
Davo
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Loony2nz said 6:56PM on 4-25-2007
I still don't get it. I always get this look of disdain from non-CF developers when I tell them I'm a CF developer. They say, "that's not a language" or "it's a dying language" or "ahhahahah omg you didn't just say that". What's so bad about being a CF developer? It's easy, it's fast, and most of all it's perfect for RAD.
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dwayne said 11:13PM on 4-25-2007
Very jazzed about this release. The hidden power use of CF, in my books, is the ability to rapidly develop proof of concept code, something most people don't utilize today. I whipped up a quick asset management system for videos being published by a 3rd party xml feed with integrated search, code generation for editors to embed functional html into a portal content system, and a keyword classification system in under 5 hours.... and I'm the PM, not a coder. The developers of other languages pride themselves on their ability to waste time and money to generate bloatware in the "real" languages I guess.
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Kevin Penny said 10:25AM on 4-26-2007
To ultrafastneal:
What are you talking about CF Studio? Come on - if you wanna program in the dark ages go ahead - Ever used the latest HomeSite+? CF Studio needed an upgrade - if you like CF Studio (which I did) you will love CFEclipse, build on a continuing / supported platform. Ever try using source control and other plug ins w/in CF Studio? How about upgrading the syntax with each language version -
Well, CFEclipse build on the Eclipse platform does all these things and more. You CAN have interactive debugging as well for the cost of the old CFStudio if you want from 3rd parties that work great, but most importantly - IT'S A FREE IDE.
The CF world programs with CFEclipse - get on it!
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Jamie said 8:51AM on 4-30-2007
Not to be a hater, or flame, but I think "Rule" is a bit much.
Let's compare ColdFusion vs. ASP.NET.
1. Built in AJAX widgets. Calendar control, Cascading Drop Downs, etc, etc.
2. Native JSON support - I think the syntax is something like this:
System.Web.Extensions.JavaScriptSerializer jss = new System.Web.Extensions.JavaScriptSerializer(typeof(MyObject));
string s = jss.Serialize(instanceOfMyObject);
3. .NET (and Java!) integration. -- uhh... yeah, minus java support, so that's .5 for ColdFusion
4. Microsoft Exchange integration. -- uhh... yeah.
5. Flash based presentation builder. - Silverlight.. XAML. WPF.
6. Full PDF integration. -- well, it should, it's adobe. so that's 1 for ColdFusion
8. Across the board enhancements. -- weak, aren't these all enhancements? ASP.NET 2.0 has across the board enhancements, too.
9. Administration API - yup. AD integration, forms authentication and a sweet little UI with every web app for administering it.
When they sport a drag and drop UI, the code-behind quasi-object model, and upcoming features like LINQ, DLINQ, functional programming, etc.. then I may look at it. Oh, let's not even begin to talk about IDE. And ASP.NET is free.
So, I think "rule" might be a little much. I think "catch up" is a better term.
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Lance said 9:38AM on 4-30-2007
Anyone who talks trash about CF just doesn't get it. If you want to spend 9 months developing something in .Net or PHP go right ahead. I'll take ColdFusion, thanks. Yeah, .Net is free. Want to do anything worthwhile with it? Better get out your wallet.
Dying language? Um, take a look at the new Flex stuff and CFEclipse and rethink your answer. Oh yeah--and I've had about six calls for positions in the last week alone. .Net developers are a dime a dozen, while CF/Flex developers are in high demand for the new Web.
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