Cold Fusion MX vs. ASP.NET

I'm actually thinking to learn Cold Fusion MX. Could someone tell me the advantages and disadvantages against ASP.NET
 
I know a little bit of Cold Fusion and I can say that it is much easier to learn than ASP.NET, PHP or any other language. Custom tags, etc. is what makes it really friendly. It makes writing data-driven applications alot simpler too and gives you better control over the design of your interface. MX (as opposed to 5.0) has alot of improvements which makes writing powerful multi-tier applications possible

I've never programmed in ASP.NET so I really can't give much of comparision. My understanding is that if you are writing really powerful and complicated applications, you can structure and code it better in .NET. However, many powerful applications are written in CFMX as well.

One disadvantage of CFMX is that its costly to deploy. The server-side software is expensive to buy/install therefore not many hosts provide this feature and those that do, do it for over $20/month (cfxhosting.com, enterhost.com). That of course until we here at JodoHost.com decided to put it at $6.95/month :). Another disadvantage is that it loads slower (by a factor of 5 or 10) in comparision to ASP.NET. A typical ASP.NET page may load in 20ms while a CFMX page will take at least 100 or 200 ms if I'm not wrong

Only a true CFMX and ASP.NET guru can give you a good comparision on this
 
FreeWilly said:
interesting, and you say you are not a CF guru? :)

no really, I'm not :)
I've always been fascinated by Cold Fusion and did try learning it not so long ago, just couldn't find enough time.
 
Look in the paper and other job-hunting resources in your area. Comapre the jobs for .Net and CF. Learn the one with more jobs! ;)
-Dave
 
You can download a 30-day trial of Cold Fusion MX Enterprise Server. Once the trial expires, it converts into a developer edition the only difference being it can only run locally.
 
WineIsGood said:
Look in the paper and other job-hunting resources in your area. Comapre the jobs for .Net and CF. Learn the one with more jobs! ;)
-Dave

Why restrict yourself to one development language? Something that I learned early on is that once you understand the concept of programming it should just be a matter of learning the semantics of different languages.

I've been working with CF for several years now... there is a good market for it if you can find it. I have also picked up ASP and am starting to play with PHP as well. Diversivication is a very important thing in today's extremely tight job market.

Hatton
 
Mike said:
whoa! this software costs $7000. No wonder I've haven't seen many cold fusion hosts

Not sure where you saw that price... CFMX Pro (what most systems need) was only $1500 (US) the last time I looked at it.

Yes it's expensive, but that's been a stable price through the last three generatioins. The really nice thing is that somthing written to run in version 3 doesn't have to be completely rewritten to run in version 6 (MX).

Hatton
 
No, no, I agree totally... it was just a joke. Learning programming concepts is the key and, like you said, everything becomes simple syntax after that. Learn what you like, and like what you learn...
-Dave

hatton said:
Why restrict yourself to one development language? Something that I learned early on is that once you understand the concept of programming it should just be a matter of learning the semantics of different languages.
<snip>
Hatton
 
Web Languages

WineIsGood said:
No, no, I agree totally... it was just a joke. Learning programming concepts is the key and, like you said, everything becomes simple syntax after that. Learn what you like, and like what you learn...
-Dave

:D I've had this debate on more than one mailing list and disucssion forum.

However, speaking of learning, does anyone have any suggestions on where I can look for a good PHP intro and tutorial?

Thanks!
Hatton
 
Re: Web Languages

hatton said:
However, speaking of learning, does anyone have any suggestions on where I can look for a good PHP intro and tutorial?
IMHO the http://www.php.net is the best source. Look in Documentation download, or just use it on-line. Not sure if there are any tutorials, but as a reference it is the best
 
Well,

Let me just say I have done professional work with CF and ASP.Net. I don't think CF is any more easier to learn now then ASP.NET is. When I first started CF I would say it is a lot easier then ASP. Now CF runs on a java engine it is clear that Macromedia is trying to get the java people and CF people to work together. You can mix tags (CF and Java) and you could always use COM objects and Java object with CF.

ASP has gone to ASP.NET and that move was a big one. I would say stay with CF if ASP didn't move to the code-behind. Now with the code-behind feature of ASP.NET it is much much more powerfull then CF.

As far as the editor, You can edit either language with note pad but Microsoft offers Matrix that is a free editor for ASP.NET apps. If you want a smart editor for CF you will have to get either Dreamweaver MX or Studio MX...which are both expensive.

If you are looking for a starting point then I would say go with ASP.NET but if you are a strong Coldfusion developer then stay there for now but look into changing. The CF market is closing fast.
 
Mike said:
Is the cold fusion editor free?

You can use any text editor to work on coldfusion pages. They are just straight ascii text files. That said, the best editor is probably HomeSite+, while DreamweaverMX is optimized for CFMX development.

On the server end of things, there is a free developers version for Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac platforms.The developers version responds to the localhost and one other IP address.

CFMX Standard costs $1,300 per server while the enterprise and J2EE versions go for around $6,000 per cpu. Upgrade prices are about half that. For more information on pricing see
http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/productinfo/product_editions/#pricing

So the pricing itself it not too extreme, especially when factoring in the sigificantly reduced development times, which according to some metrics can be as little as one third that of ASP.net and PHP development efforts.
regards,

larry
 
I'm using Cold Fusion , Asp.net, PHP, Java and C# to write web application.

I feel Cold Fusion is for the web designer, cold fusion is similar English language and HTML, don't need too much programing
logical, just a extra fro HTML and Javascript, But for complicate case, it is too hard to write, it will very long program..

Asp.net. I say, if no microsoft, then Asp.net can't exist in this world. Microsoft want to change all web application to his staff, instead of html and Javascript. But it is impossible. so If you familar HTML and JS, you will feel asp.net is totally another lanuage, they don't compatible. But if you are windows application developer, (like me before), some concepts are same, but you still need to learn a lot of.

In my opinion, The best is PHP, it is the real internet development language, it is very good work with HTML and Javascript, and shorter, powerful than ColdFusion, you see this web site is built in PHP, and it is free, cheaper host. why do you use the other language?
 
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