* "Andrew Scott" <andrews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: > I have been a coldfusion developer for now 10 years almost, and can > code anything you want in a very short time. Have been learning PHP > for now 6 months and I am sorry to say that I don't like PHP over > coldfusion. > > Now the problem is that with any language that you choose to develop > in, it all boils down to maintenance costs. Sure PHP might be free, > but lets look at the realistic world of development. First off, I work in the real world, too. I have been a web developer for many years. I've worked in perl, ASP, Tango, and PHP on the server side. Your idea of the "realistic world of development" differs from mine -- and yet we're both web developers. Neither one of us is 100% correct. What I'm going to write below comes from my own experience and is my opinion, and it's no less valid than yours. You insinuate with your last sentence above that PHP costs more to maintain, either in time, money, or both. In my experience, I've found languages that do not require either (a) a dedicated IDE and/or (b) a GUI IDE easier and less costly to maintain. The reasoning is that I can use a terminal to the server in order to make changes on the fly, and also that I can use standard tools like ssh, ftp, etc. to upload updates -- all of which are standard on the boxes on which I work, and which are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. > Coldfusion allows very RAD and is very code reuse friendly PHP is a RAD environment. That's how it's been developed, and that's how it remains. It's a language suited for getting web pages up, fast. PHP can also be very 'code reuse friendly'. It simply depends on the developer. If you use OOP wisely, it's very easy to create frameworks that can inherit from each other. I've done things such as create a gallery class, which I've then extended into an e-cards application. I also tend to write code once, and use 'instance scripts' that set up the environment -- which allows me to re-use the same application in different areas of a site or on different sites, and have each instance feel unique. > and is not dead in the water, and keeps getting stronger and stronger. > With coldfusion you have the ability to leverage of java more than you > care to think, and even a simple command like > > String = WhatThe.Size(); > > Will work, and the method size is not a part of coldfusion but a part > of java, and makes the code just as easy to use than ever before. With > the ability of tags we have created a framework in coldfusion that > allows us to create a master / detail page in around 2 minutes, we > can't do this in php without spending a minimum of 4 hours to do the > same job. But how much time have you poured into that framework? I'm willing to bet that if you had spent a similar amount of time developing a PHP framework, you'd have the same end result. This is not a matter of the language, it's a matter of familiarity with tools and time spent refining them. <snip> > But lets look at the bigger picture for a minute, php might be free > but look at the amount of time it would take to develop and > application, then look at coldfusion and it might cost but its quicker > to develop with the right person and could end up saving you time and > money in the future. That last statement, "its[sic] quicker to develop with the right person" is the key statement here. I think you'll find that, with any language, if you have a well-trained professional doing the development, you're going to get faster, more accurate results. (Caveat: so long as the language is actually suited to the task at hand. Don't use C++ to develop web apps, and don't use PHP to develop system drivers.) > Now I have read that people have talked about server loads, if the > coldfusion application is installed correctly in the first place then > it would not be an issue that's why there is an enterprise version. Server loads are going to vary based on the efficiency of the application, the application server (if any), the RDBMS (if any), and the web server. All of these areas can be tuned. This is true of LAMP, true of ASP.NET, and true of ColdFusion. > We develop intranet applications that deliver sales invoicing, and > financial report writing with pdf invoices / picking slips and this is > now included in coldfusion although we use it with CR9/10, but to have > this feature in a php application its too much of a headache to > program (time wise). I'll go on a limb here and say that the reason it's too much of a headache is that you're more familiar with ColdFusion, and less familiar with PHP. These things are not hard in PHP, and a number of libraries make PDF creation very easy. But you're already familiar with how to do this in ColdFusion, so that's going to be easier. > Most powers to be will be looking at the overall cost, development > cost and maintenance cost and this can be very expensive, if you don't > do your homework first, and with blue dragon you don't need to spend a > cent to develop in coldfusion. But you may need to spend money for the actual application server. I'm not going to debate the merits of PHP versus ColdFusion; I'm not familiar enough with the latter to make an objective case. However, I think the important thing here is that if you know a language inside out, it will almost always be easier to do development in that language than in one to which you've had less and less frequent exposure. PHP is certainly a good web programming language. So is ColdFusion. I'm choosing PHP because: * It's free; I don't need to purchase anything in order to run programs written in PHP. * No vendor lock-in. I can run it on a variety of web servers, and on a variety of OS flavors. * Variety of plugins. I can mix and match a variety of RDBMS drivers, choose what extensions I may want (IMAP is unnecessary, but I want FTP, etc.). * Community support. I don't have to pay for support, and there's a large community of developers upon whom to draw. Some of these may be true for ColdFusion as well. What the OP needs to do is determine what merits PHP or ColdFusion may have over the other, as well as what demerits might be present for each, and then evaluate those in the context of their work environment. -- Matthew Weier O'Phinney Zend Certified Engineer http://weierophinney.net/matthew/ -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
