Coding ColdFusion and coding JavaScript are about as far apart on the
productivity spectrum as it's possible to be. CF tags are neat, easy to read,
tolerant, and fun to write. JavaScript is none of that. It has all the
drawbacks of traditional languages, with the added disadvantage of sitting
somewhat awkwardly within the HTML document model.
Anything but the most trivial JavaScript is difficult to write, difficult to
debug, and difficult for either the author or another developer to revisit,
but, as much as I'd like to, it isn't possible to do without it for
interactive Web site development. For all its faults, JavaScript remains the
principal means of delivering client-side functionality.
For better or worse, we have to learn to live with it, and fortunately
ColdFusion makes it easy to integrate JavaScript into your apps without
having to code and debug chunks of ... (more)
One of the reasons I was first drawn to ColdFusion was the built-in
functionality for such things as sending e-mail, making HTTP requests, FTP
uploads - all the myriad subsidiary functions you inevitably find yourself
using when you build and manage large sites.
Content has to be downloaded from here, uploaded to there, and e-mailed to
thousands of users every day.
Using only standard ColdFusion functionality keeps things neat and easy to
support. And for all the warnings about not running an SMTP server on the
same machine as your Web server, I'm sure many developers have a site... (more)
A two-part series looks at techniques for shifting workload away from the
application server onto the database by using "extra" database tables.
Most ColdFusion programmers understand that when it comes to bulk inserting
into a database, it isn't good practice to loop over text files one line at a
time with a . However, when faced with the realities of a data feed
that needs preprocessing, comparing to existing data, and then
postprocessing, good intentions sometimes fall by the wayside.
The theory is simple - if you have a large amount of data (typically tabbed
or comma ... (more)
A two-part series looks at techniques for shifting workload away from the
application server and onto the database by using "extra" database tables.
It's just an average search - three full text indexes, ten subselects on
many-to-many joins, and a bit of Pythagoras - to find results within 2km
using latitude and longitude. It's the sort of query that makes your database
give up just thinking about it, and your customers want to run it twice every
second.
Sometimes databases will surprise you with just how quickly they can perform
complex tasks. Sometimes, it's the opposite. You'v... (more)
Given the number of applications available for developing database front
ends, it might seem strange that the most popular method of doing it is using
HTML and an application server. It's become apparent, however, that the Web
offers something in terms of simplicity and familiarity that users value more
than the added functionality that dedicated packages can bring.
No doubt their bosses also value the cost savings, and it can be convenient
for developers not to have to worry about installing dedicated packages or
custom-built front ends.
The problem, though, with using ColdFusio... (more)