I was having a conversation with someone over the phone about ColdFusion and I received a pretty surprising comment, “ColdFusion, is that still around?” Jokingly of-course, but you would be surprised at how much ColdFusion still exists in today’s web world. Lots of people think that the web changes so quickly and that the evolution of the web is so hard to keep up with.
Iterative Computer Trends?
The computer world has followed some very basic and the same principals for over 30 years now. We just tend to re-name, re-brand, and coin new terminology to existing practices. For-instance, “cloud” – We have been using cluster-based servers since even before the internet, that’s how the internet came about in the first place.
We do the same with design. When new age design becomes too much, we tend to look into the past to fulfill a circle of re-design. Look at Windows 8 Metro Theme.
ColdFusion for Freelancers?
I just recently got another project, and guess what, it’s in ColdFusion. I know that I’ll get a lot of grief for making this statement, but ColdFusion is still a very applicable and useful language. It reminds me of PHP and Python in ways, with the exception of the CFML syntax. But, the second you switch into CFScript mode, you are literally writing C style ColdFusion without the hassles of tightly strict variable and object control such as you get in your C#, C, and Java. In addition, there’s a lot of ColdFusion work that freelancers do not feel comfortable with touching. Mainly, I feel, because people think it is foreign. Not true, all the programmatic concepts are exactly the same as other languages.
Open Source ColdFusion?
Here I am loading up the Open Source CFML interpreter called Railo to install Mura CMS and build a quick parallax website. I can basically load CF locally via Railo, skip the thousand dollar Adobe costs, and get right to work in a CMS that is open source, just in a different world. I can use MySQL, PostgreSQL, or even MariaDB for the backend. Load up the CMS and get to work with my Front-End interface design.
Yes, you can create new age websites using what seems to be “old-age” technologies. What an odd concept.
At the end of the day, you have your interpreter, your database, your replication and scaling (operational), and your wealth of CFML documentation that is extremely strong. And all of it is OpenSource.
Where is ColdFusion today?
- Neobux.com
- Adobe.com
- Shareasale.com
- Independent.co.uk
- Usbank.com
- Ft.com
- Walgreens.com
- Shutterfly.com
- Etrade.com
- Volkskrant.nl
- Epa.gov
How much ColdFusion is out there?
ColdFusion is said to be used on fewer websites than .NET and PHP, but close to Java, and about par with Perl. With that said, the amount of traffic is equal to greater than those others.
Not surprisingly, ColdFusion is around. And not a lot of people know how to program in it. Maybe something to think about for those freelancers out there.
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