ColdFusion: a viable Java alternative

by Mike Heck

June 4, 2001 —

Making prudent Internet investments is always a top priority for CTOs. But even more important is controlling Web-application development and deployment costs. An obvious way to keep Web-development expenses in check is to ensure top productivity from both software engineers and their application development tools. Choosing an appropriate development language and server is an important part of this process.

Macromedia Inc.'s ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) is a popular choice for deploying dynamic Web pages because IT staff can get CFML applications running quickly with its easy-to-master tags. This language coupled with Allaire's Web server -- Allaire merged with Macromedia earlier this year -- can provide a complete end-to-end development solution. With that in mind, Macromedia has developed ColdFusion Server 5, scheduled for a mid-June release.

ColdFusion Server 5 Enterprise Edition enables developers to create custom tags and user-defined functions to add features to applications and reuse code from other jobs. Additionally, Macromedia has tuned-up the server and now claims that the tune-up has increased page delivery 1.5 times to 4.5 times, depending on the operating system being used.

With Version 5, developers will be able to deploy applications more quickly because data from disparate sources in memory can be joined using standard SQL commands. In addition, the server now includes high-performance ODBC database drivers and incremental page delivery speed development. As a benefit for administrators, Version 5 also streamlines application deployment on multiple servers.

CFML isn't quite as flexible as a full programming language, such as Java. Java, for example, can be used in handheld and cellular phones. But improvements in ColdFusion Server 5 narrow the gap significantly. In most cases, performance in our tests of interpreted CFML pages equaled the performance of pages in compiled languages. The deployment environment is finally solidified in this release, with special attention spent improving administration functionality.

We tested the beta Enterprise Edition of ColdFusion Server 5 for Windows (Solaris and Linux versions are scheduled for release in August), and did not find any flaws with the programming language, development tools, or the application server. We successfully built and deployed several Web applications that connected with multiple enterprise data sources, verified the speed improvements Macromedia had cited for the Windows OS, and evaluated the new management tools.

To begin, we defined a custom CFML function that searched, retrieved, and formatted database information. Once the function was created, we simply dropped it into several other applications that required a similar lookup capability and reduced our development time by about two-thirds over Version 4.5.

We also tested several methods for improving the performance of our applications. The new CFML SQL tag allowed us to efficiently integrate information from an Oracle database and from an e-mail system in server memory, using standard SQL query commands. Also included in Version 5 is Merant's DataDirect Connect ODBC drivers. These wire protocol drivers performed as much as five times faster than traditional ODBC database connectivity.

It's no surprise that Macromedia used its graphics competence to add charting functions to ColdFusion Server 5. We used the built-in version of Macromedia Generator to dynamically produce revenue charts from a sales report database.

Version 5 makes application deployment and system administration easier in several ways. Using the new archive file feature, we gathered .cfm files and configuration data into one package, which allowed us to easily deploy applications on additional servers. Using the same technique, we also backed up and then restored an entire application to new hardware.

ColdFusion applications, which now support SNMP, can be monitored from enterprise network monitoring systems. To increase its scalability, ColdFusion Server 5 works with additional hardware load balancers, including Cisco Systems Inc.'s CSS 11000.

Often, users create ColdFusion applications with a specialized version of Macromedia's UltraDev 4 Studio. A few enhancements to this integrated development environment (IDE), such as support for the new tags, will ship with ColdFusion Server 5. But we'd like to see even more automation of application development added to the IDE, including database functions, to further cut development cycles.

A good alternative to using Java, ColdFusion was built from the ground up as a Web application platform and has proved its worth on many large commercial sites. With ColdFusion Server 5, Macromedia will give Web developers an even more accessible language, and IT managers will get the performance they require to deliver dynamic content through an existing infrastructure. ColdFusion 5 is one Web application server we'd highly recommend considering for your company's development needs.

THE BOTTOM LINE: BETA

Macromedia ColdFusion Server 5

Business Case: This Web application server controls costs by integrating capabilities, such as server reporting and analysis, that normally require multiple products.

Technology Case: A new charting engine, advanced full-text searching, additional language features, and in particular, custom tags and user-defined functions all enable faster application development.

Pros:

+ Increases application functionality

+ Uses SQL for better performance

+ Offers server analysis tools to help spot and eliminate application bottlenecks

Cons:

- Additional automation needed to cut development cycles in ColdFusion Studio IDE

Cost: Enterprise Edition, $4,995 per server; ColdFusion 4.5.2 UltraDev Studio 4, $599

Platform(s): Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000; Cobalt Qube RaQ 3.4; HP-UX 11.0

Company: Macromedia Inc., www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion

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