PHP vs Cold Fusion

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I am interested in find out what would be better PHP or Cold Fusion - I may be entering the medical field, which requires a module to be built using a programmer - What would have more security as far as data being transmitted, and is what is easier to develop and read code. Advice appreciated, thanks much
#programming #cold #fusion #php
  • php is the coolest solution
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • There's no right answer to this type of question, and Coldfusion users will passionately defend their choice of platform to no end, and won't be wrong for doing so. However, there is no arguing that PHP has a much broader support community and learning resources devoted to it. Because of this, it will probably be easier to learn.
    • [2] replies
    • Thank you, i appreciate your comment
    • Very true, and not to forget that most web hosts don't support Coldfusion.
  • i think you will also find that PHP is also much more well supported in general by forums, users, books, etc

    HTH
  • PHP and ASP.net, I think, will be the two major players in web development for years to come. So choose PHP.
  • I suggest you try ASP.NET. If you aren't going to be selling your module, it will work great! (the only issue, is most people don't have windows servers to run ASP.NET software).
  • I have never heard about the cold fusion. But I am using php sometimes. Can you tell me what for Cold Fusion is?
    • [1] reply
    • Just an example of a cold fusion site. This one was the reason I
      first got a computer and got on line. The .cfm is the give away.

      Contact Info
      • [1] reply
  • Coldfusion is a premium (not free) server programming language created by Adobe. It is very popular with certain web-designers and developers, and has a tagged markup structure that looks like and uses XML. It is a full-featured, object-oriented programming language with a large library of functions for doing web-related tasks before HTML is outputted to the browser.

    Coldfusion usually runs on IIS (Microsoft Servers), but Adobe also has their own web server package. I believe there is also an adaptation for Linux/Apache, but I don't think it is very popular.
  • You would be better off going down the PHP route.

    However, in terms of programming and applications you are best using the .NET framework (for Windows users).

    This is a web based application right?
  • What is PHP?

    • PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
    • PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP
    • PHP scripts are executed on the server
    • PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.)
    • PHP is an open source software
    • PHP is free to download and use

    Cold Fusion developed by Macromedia is another server-side scripting language used to develop dynamic web pages.
  • I'd have to go with PHP as well, for all the reasons mentioned above. There's a lot more information available for PHP, making it easier to learn and work with. ASP.NET would be another good choice, VB.NET and C# are fairly easy to learn and it's not hard to build some complex software (server-side or as Windows executables) in either language since most of the "heavy lifting" is done for you.

    As a side note.. if I remember correctly, Myspace was originally written in Coldfusion. It seems they've rebuilt the whole thing in ASP.NET and it runs a lot smoother than it used to (but I still get the occasional error sending messages).. lol
    • [1] reply
    • I love ColdFusion. I like it better than any other language, and I code in all of them. Still, a lot depends on your situation.

      PHP is much better than ColdFusion (CF) in terms of the amount of free stuff you can get. If the off the shelf solutions work for you, go PHP. I use WP + FeedWP + {insert plugin here} all the time. But my real money sites are coded in CF.

      People cite an 'active development community' all the time as a plus for PHP. But, have you ever tried to get a 'community' to write custom code for YOUR project? A community is great for bug fixes, but won't help you do anything interesting or new. For that, you will need your own talent.

      I write my own code, so I don't need to worry about the choice of platform. For example, if I'm doing Silverlight, I'll use .Net. On the other hand, if you have a good programmer, you might want to go with whatever they are comfortable with.

      If you are developing Flash / Flex apps, there is NO better choice for a platform than CF. ColdFusion integrates better than anything, simply because Adobe makes Flash and ColdFusion.

      Regarding support... yeah, PHP has more programmers. But, the quality of the average PHP developer falls short of the average CF developer. Not saying the top guys in the fields aren't all wizards. But the average 'yeah I program PHP' guy is nowhere near the average 'yeah I program ColdFusion' guy.

      I am not making up stats. This is coming from 10 years of corporate experience hiring these fools to write code for me. The CF community is smaller, but the level of the developer is higher. Go on Elance, hire a PHP guy, hire a CF guy, and you will see what I mean! Also, while I'm on it, I have found that the average CF project took LESS TIME to develop than the average .NET or PHP project, and required a lot less support.

      Again, this is from 10 years of personal experience as a developer and IT manager. Your mileage may vary.

      Before I go, I have to clear up some stuff Wayfarer wrote:

      >>>Coldfusion is a premium (not free) server programming language created by Adobe. <<<

      Not quite. ColdFusion was created by Allaire, bought my Macromedia, then bought by Adobe. The Adobe version costs money. But, the developer edition is FREE for dev purposes.

      There are also TWO (2) Free implementations of ColdFusion right now. Railo and OpenBD. Both of these platforms let you use ColdFusion FREE.

      >>>It is very popular with certain web-designers and developers, and has a tagged markup structure that looks like and uses XML. It is a full-featured, object-oriented programming language with a large library of functions for doing web-related tasks before HTML is outputted to the browser.<<<

      Yes! Also, CF is a fully compliant J2EE application. Which means if you run JSP pages, you can use CF instead of JSP to save a TON of time. You can also go the other direction and use all of your Java libraries inside of your ColdFusion applications. CF is a great time saver for Java based shops.

      >>> Coldfusion usually runs on IIS (Microsoft Servers), but Adobe also has their own web server package. I believe there is also an adaptation for Linux/Apache, but I don't think it is very popular.<<<

      I believe Apache is the most popular web server for ColdFusion. But, CF can run with almost any web server. Mac OS X is a flavor of unix, and it runs CF with no problem. In fact, a lot of CF developers like to develop using Macbook Pros.

      I'm not sure if it's the majority yet, but Linux + Apache, especially if you include the Mac, is one of the most popular set ups for developing ColdFusion apps right now.

      Anyway, with all the PHP love going down in this thread, I thought I'd at least hold it down for ColdFusion.

      ColdFusion FTW
      • [1] reply
  • You will find more resources and customize scripts using PHP.
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    PHP vs Cold Fusion

    I am interested in find out what would be better PHP or Cold Fusion - I may be entering the medical field, which requires a module to be built using a programmer - What would have more security as far as data being transmitted, and is what is easier to develop and read code. Advice appreciated, thanks much