Why Use ColdFusion?

Posted by TJ Downes at 6:34 PM
0 comments - Categories: Technical Articles | Cool Stuff

This month we are going to focus on ColdFusion. There seems to be a lot of confusion about ColdFusion, what it does, and how it can actually save your organization time and, most importantly, money.

ColdFusion is a web application server. What does that mean? Simply put, ColdFusion allows you to dynamically publish information to and from a database or other source to make your site or applications interact in real-time with your organization's data. This can include something as simple as a contact form on your website or something as complex as a Customer Relationship Management system.

Many people argue against ColdFusion because it is not free. They argue that PHP, ASP, .NET and JAVA are all free and therefore are much lower cost than ColdFusion. True, the initial cost of ColdFusion, $1299 for Standard and $5999 for Enterprise, is not something to cough at. So why should you choose ColdFusion over any of the other previously mentioned languages?

For starters, ColdFusion has a very easy syntax, allowing entry-level developers to start making basic applications very quickly. It also allows more advanced developers to code their applications in record time because ColdFusion includes many of the tools developers often have to hand-code or integrate manually. ColdFusion code runs on many platforms, and very few changes ever need to be made in the source code to move an application from Windows to Linux to Solaris. 

ColdFusion is also based on the Java platform, giving it the power of Java as well as access to the underlying Java platform and custom objects written by your own staff or third parties. For instance, you may have existing Java objects which run your business rules. ColdFusion developers can leverage these existing objects in their ColdFusion apps with very little effort, rather than rewriting them entirely for their own applications.

ColdFusion has a slew of built in tools which enhance it's capabilities including XML processing, easy file uploading, Flash integration, ability to quickly and easily consume web services, PDF integration and publishing, charting tools, SMS and other gateway integration. There is a huge list of these features available on Adobe's website.

ColdFusion also integrates with many Rich Internet Application technologies very easily. Flex (a Flash-based application development platform) and ColdFusion work together seamlessly to provide some of the fastest development cycles for large scale applications we have seen, with some awesome user interfaces. AJAX and ColdFusion work well together, allowing websites to be updated in real-time without the need for slow page refreshes.

Recently, with the acquisition of ColdFusion by Adobe, many of Adobe's Enterprise level products, such as LiveCycle and Acrobat, now integrate seamlessly with ColdFusion and allow ColdFusion developers to leverage these tools to provide solutions which have been difficult to accomplish without extensive Java development. With the release of ColdFusion 8 in mid-2007, developers will see even more integration to Adobe's products, making development of document management systems, presentation and comunication tools faster than ever before possible.

If you would like to learn more about ColdFusion please contact Sanative for a free one hour demonstration of the product and how it can solve problems which exist in your organization.