Challenges Faced By A ColdFusion Developer
As a commercial web application development framework, Adobe ColdFusion comes with features to simplify and speed up web application development and maintenance. It allows programmers to write websites in a tag-based web scripting language - ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), and accomplish common web development tasks with simple HTML style tags. The users can further curtail development time significantly by using the integrated development environment (IDE) and debugging, testing and troubleshooting tools provided by ColdFusion. Each new version of ColdFusion also comes with several new language features and enhancements to meet the emerging trend in web application development. For instance, ColdFusion (2016 release) enables programmers to develop, publish, monitor, and manage APIs more efficiently through an API Manager. It further provides a command line interface, and comes with features to enhance PDF generation and security. But the ColdFusion developers still have to address a number of issues to accelerate web application development and testing. Understanding 5 Common Challenges in ColdFusion Development 1) Accomplishing Tasks with CFScript While developing web applications with ColdFusion, programmers often write code in an extended version of CFML - CFScript. But CFScript lacks some of the advanced features provided by CFML. Hence, the scripting version of CFML requires developers to accomplish common programming tasks by writing additional code. Also, many programmers consider CFScript to be less efficient than JavaScript. They even find it easier to accomplish common tasks by using JavaScript instead of CFScript. Hence, ColdFusion developers have to explore ways to enhance the performance of CFScript. 2) Avoid Writing Lengthy and Complex Code The open source web application development frameworks and tools are supported by large and active communities. The members of the community release new tools and share code snippets to make it easier for others to use the web framework. The smart web developers always take advantage of the code snippets and prewritten scripts shared by other members of the community to avoid writing longer lines of code. But ColdFusion lacks the support of a large community as it is an open source web application development frameworks. Hence, the developers have to write lengthy and complex code while building custom web applications with ColdFusion. They even have to explore ways to reduce coding time on a regular basis. 3) Choosing the Right Debugging Tool Nowadays, the user experience delivered by a web application impacts its popularity and profitability directly. Hence, the web developers need to debug their code consistently and repair the bugs or defects in the code immediately. Most web frameworks come with built-in debugging tools to help programmers debug their code efficiently and consistently. But ColdFusion is not designed with any built-in debugging tools. It requires developers to debug their programs by using ColdFusion debugging tools like Quackit and Fusion Debug. But the developers have to incur additional expenses to avail these debugging tools. The even find it challenging to pick the right ColdFusion debugging tool for each project.
4) Keeping Code Base Clean and Organized Nowadays, most enterprises require web developers to keep the source code of the web application clean and organized. The clean and structured code base makes it easier for programmers to maintain and update the website without putting extra time and effort. Many developers opt for web frameworks that support model-view-controller (MVC) architecture to keep the application code maintainable and structured by keeping the business logic and user interface layers separated. At present, ColdFusion does not support MVC architecture. The developers have to use specific MVC frameworks - FuseBox, ColdBox, Mach-II and Model-Glue - for ColdFusion to keep the application code base clean and organized. Often ColdFusion developers find it challenging to pick the right MVC framework according to specific needs of the project. 5) Simplifying Code Installation Process The ColdFusion developers use a variety of third-party APIs and tools to make the ColdFusion application deliver richer user experience. Hence, the developers explore ways to install, update, configure and remove the application and all its dependencies smoothly. The package manager tools provided by other web frameworks make it easier for programmers to automate the code installation process. Unlike other modern web frameworks, ColdFusion does not come with a built-in package manager. Hence, the users have to put additional time and effort to install the code base perfectly. They also need to fix a number of issues and errors associated with manual code installation. Many developers even use third-party command line tools and package managers to deploy the web application quickly and smoothly. The developers have option to choose from three distinct editions of ColdFusion - standard, developer and enterprises. The features included in various editions of ColdFusion differ. The users have to incur additional expenses to avail all new features and enhancements provided by the latest version of ColdFusion. Hence, many web developers find it challenging to curtail project overheads while developing web applications with ColdFusion.
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