Contents
- 1. I don't understand why you are not doing a scientific survey. It would be much more accurate. 2. I don't use any frameworks because I don't know how to use them. Training classes would be helpful. 3. It would be good to conduct qualitative research after you get the results from this survey. I would recommend a focus group on a particular survey question.
- Adobe killed CF. Lucee is a great retirement home for legacy CFML apps to live out the remainder of their lives, but it will never know the glory days of old again. I love CFML. I've championed it at every employer I've worked for in the past 20+ years. I wrote and maintain trycf.com. I'd love to see it catch up to the modern stack, but that will not happen. ACF is too slow to introduce language features because fluff features pay the bills. (API manager, CFClient, etc...). They are also too slow to upkeep their fluff (hibernate, extjs, etc...). Likewise, Lucee is too afraid to move away from ACF compatibility and therefore are stuck in the same decade's old mindset. It sucks, but that's the way it is. Far too long have we pretended that CFML is easy. I work with a lot of OO CFML that is by far the most complicated (unnecessarily) and hard to debug code I've ever seen. That's not all (much of it, but not all) CFML's fault, but OO is hard, with very little benefit. Too much mysterious mutations happening and no telling where functions, data, variables come from or why they change. ColdBox, sorry, but it sucks by association. It tries to help the not really-OO-language-but-tries-to-look-like-it, but it falls short (don't tell the Ortus folks, they're awesome and do an awesome job, but ColdBox is too OO for not enough gain -- too much black box!). FW/1 is much simpler, but not as many resources (human, oss, support, etc...). Functional programming is also hard, but has so many benefits that overcome all the headache we've found in OO programming. It is impossible to achieve anything close to pure FP in CFML (not that pure would be good either), which is one major reason we're ditching it. Moving to a much flatter more manageable and readable code platform that is much leaner and can spin up and be deployed much faster (nodeJS servers & serverless AWS Lambda). CommandBox and especially the ComamndBox docker image and CFConfig are awesome and are far ahead of many web tech stacks out there, but developers like to use modern language features that make their jobs easier and their code better. CFML just doesn't see that, never have, never will. I'll likely continue the CFML ride until the end, but as a manager and one responsible for hiring and tech decisions, I will not be doing any new development in CFML.
- We are migrating away from CF. Both in my last company we migrated from CF. It is hard to justify cost in open source world. It is very very difficult to get good CF developers who has experience in OOPS. It is definitely not easy to find CF jobs to advance the career. There is not single job in California in my salary range.
- Share these results with Mark Takata at Adobe! And anyone else that has responsibility for promoting and improving CF. Community is good and helpful, like most developer communities. It's also small (compared to communities for languages/environments with much wider adoption) and the Adobe team is unhelpful in most cases, especially with support for ACF performance and ColdFusion API Manager.
- Thanks for putting these together each year. 🙂
- Adobe has to fix the licensing per core issue. Last time we ordered new servers I had to custom order Dell to get 4 core CPUs so I could get by with a mere 2x Standard Licenses per server. Most standard CPUs in servers are 8-16 cores. No one is going to pay $5,000 for a server + Windows and then $25,000 for CF. You want to force people to Lucee? THIS is how you force people to Lucee.
- Love CFML. My personal stuff is all done in Lucee.
- Where you had operating systems you did not have Unix we use Oracle Solaris
- Question about conference should have been altered due to the pandemic nobody can move at the moment.
- Join the CF Alive revolution
Below are the partial results to date for the 2021 State of the CF Union survey. See how you compare with other CFML developers. Discover what most developers use for tools, languages, database and development methods.
Can you help? If you have a blog, are on a ColdFusion list, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google group please share the survey so that we can get a more complete picture of the current State of the CF Union. Thanks!
1. What version of CFML Engine do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
2. What type of CFML Engine are you running? (Check all that apply)
3. What CF Server OS are you using (Check all that apply)?
4. What OS do you run on your laptop/PC? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
5. What browsers/client platforms do you support in your apps? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
6. Databases you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
7. What MVC Frameworks do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
8. What ColdFusion-based CMS do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
9. What JavaScript libraries do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
10. What CSS frameworks do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
11. What CFC dependency injection frameworks and tools do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
12. Which persistence frameworks do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
13. What testing and mocking frameworks do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
14. What type of CF Mobile development frameworks are you using? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
15. What miscellaneous frameworks/tools are you using? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
16. What CF features do you use for code reuse? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
17. What do you use for source code control? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
18. What tools/IDEs do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
19. What browser Dev Tools do you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
20. What do you use to build REST APIs? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
21. What caching solutions are you using? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
22. How many years have you used CFML? (Check one)
23. How many years have you used OO? (Check one)
24. Other languages/environments you use? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
25. How many CF developers at your organization? (Check one)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
26. How many total employees at your organization? (Check one)
27. How often do you attend ColdFusion User Group meetings? (Check one)
28. What CF related topics are you interested in learning this year? (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
29. Which CF conferences will/did you attend this year? (Check all that apply)* (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
30. What online CF communities do you participate in? (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
31. CF Open Source (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
32. I listen to the CF Alive podcast (Check one)*
33. I listen to the Modernize or Die Podcast (Check one) *
34. What types of DEVELOPMENT setups do you use? (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
35. What types of PRODUCTION deployments do you use? (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
36. What hosting services do you use for your PRODUCTION deployments? (Check all that apply)*
Others
| Hurricane Electric Colocation |
| Internal IT |
| hetzner.de (cloud) |
| only self hosted |
| Hetzner Cloud Server |
| Secura |
| hetzner |
| buddy.works |
| Client own infrastructure |
| Hetzner |
| CFDynamics |
| Newtek |
| https://luceeplanet.com |
| We ARE a hosting company and offer Lucee setups, both CommandBox and more traditional setups |
| Webtropia Germany |
| site4u |
| SLTN |
| Vultr |
| Local datacentre |
| Don't know: new job. |
| Client-specific |
| Google Computer Engine (VPS) |
| Memset |
| Haven't published yet |
| 1und1, Strato |
37. What Docker Image(s) are you using, if applicable? (Check all that apply)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
38. What deployment/build tools do you use? (Check all that apply)*
Others
| Custom |
| custom build script |
| In House tools |
| Codeship |
| bamboo |
39. What monitoring tools are you using? (Check all that apply)*
Others
| icinga, zabbix |
| Lucee performance analyzer own monitoring tools |
| Internal tools |
| Sentry |
| cbdebugger |
| Uptime Robot |
| PRTG |
| JMX + Prometheus + ELK + Grafana |
| Zabbix |
| IT special |
| Nagios |
40. How do you lock down your servers for security? (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
41. Have your CF servers suffered from a hacking exploit in the last 2 years due to a CF-based vector? (Remember, this is anonymous) (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
42. Are you using or planning to use AWS Lambda (serverless) (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
43. What aspects of CF are keeping you and/or your company using it? (Check all that apply)*
Others
| Ortus |
| from using what? |
| it is what we like |
| n/a |
44. What aspects of CF are preventing you or your company from embracing CF? (Check all that apply)*
Others
| NONE we have embraced it. |
| Clients think that it is old and outdated |
| corporate IT wants all office365 |
| none |
| we don't have any issues with CF |
| The community size is small, so there's a lot more that you need to do yourself and your more likely to encounter bugs. |
| Lack of widespread support for a Framework |
| Missing great linting and inline debuggers. |
| not applicable |
| Unfounded reputation that it's outdated. |
| Java or C#...that's enterprise. 🙁 |
| Management Thinking ColdFusion as obsolete tech |
| Cultural issues. CF has a stigma. |
| Insufficient staff to tackle more and/or larger projects; supervisor does not want department to assume responsibility for larger, more time-consuming projects |
| More people should get behind lucee |
| outsiders bashing CF |
| None applied |
| Lack of resources to hire developers |
| community small, so bugs are not discovered very fast |
| None |
| Lack of customisation/extensibility for Adobe CF |
| N/A |
| This is begging the question. |
| You forgot 'none' as an option. |
| JavaScript frontend with backend using Groovy or Kotlin is just better, safer, faster, more enjoyable and better supported. |
45. What are your company’s plans for your technology stack, if any? (Check all that apply)*
If migrating FROM CFML to another language, please specify
| node.js |
| C#.net |
| off the shelf apps where possible |
| ASP, C# |
| Go or Javascript |
| Python |
| managers want to evaluate what our stack will be going forward |
| .net |
| .net |
| Java, python, nodejs |
| Php |
| our application is composite it will move to node,java or go depending on requirements |
| ServiceNow |
| Java or .Net |
| Java Spring |
| Node ( NextJS ) |
| c# |
| A lot of CFML is being rewritten as microservices in Go - which I think is a mistake. |
| node.js // python |
| C#, Java |
| Porting existing CFML apps over to PowerApps. |
| Node.js for backend tasks |
| Ruby or Python |
| Moving functionality to consolidate overlaps |
| .net and Java |
If migrating from another language TO CFML, please specify
|
No entries match your request. |
46. What is your approximate salary range in USD? (Remember, this is anonymous) (Check one)
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
47. What is your current arrangement for CF work? (Check all that apply)*
Others
|
No entries match your request. |
48. What percentage of your PROFESSIONAL development time is spent on CFML (as opposed to other languages)? (Check one)*
49. What percentage of your HOBBY development time is spent on CFML (as opposed to other languages)? (Check one)*
50. Any additional comments/suggestions for the survey?
1. I don't understand why you are not doing a scientific survey. It would be much more accurate.
2. I don't use any frameworks because I don't know how to use them. Training classes would be helpful.
3. It would be good to conduct qualitative research after you get the results from this survey. I would recommend a focus group on a particular survey question.
2. I don't use any frameworks because I don't know how to use them. Training classes would be helpful.
3. It would be good to conduct qualitative research after you get the results from this survey. I would recommend a focus group on a particular survey question.
Adobe killed CF. Lucee is a great retirement home for legacy CFML apps to live out the remainder of their lives, but it will never know the glory days of old again.
I love CFML. I've championed it at every employer I've worked for in the past 20+ years. I wrote and maintain trycf.com. I'd love to see it catch up to the modern stack, but that will not happen. ACF is too slow to introduce language features because fluff features pay the bills. (API manager, CFClient, etc...). They are also too slow to upkeep their fluff (hibernate, extjs, etc...). Likewise, Lucee is too afraid to move away from ACF compatibility and therefore are stuck in the same decade's old mindset. It sucks, but that's the way it is.
Far too long have we pretended that CFML is easy. I work with a lot of OO CFML that is by far the most complicated (unnecessarily) and hard to debug code I've ever seen. That's not all (much of it, but not all) CFML's fault, but OO is hard, with very little benefit. Too much mysterious mutations happening and no telling where functions, data, variables come from or why they change. ColdBox, sorry, but it sucks by association. It tries to help the not really-OO-language-but-tries-to-look-like-it, but it falls short (don't tell the Ortus folks, they're awesome and do an awesome job, but ColdBox is too OO for not enough gain -- too much black box!). FW/1 is much simpler, but not as many resources (human, oss, support, etc...). Functional programming is also hard, but has so many benefits that overcome all the headache we've found in OO programming. It is impossible to achieve anything close to pure FP in CFML (not that pure would be good either), which is one major reason we're ditching it. Moving to a much flatter more manageable and readable code platform that is much leaner and can spin up and be deployed much faster (nodeJS servers & serverless AWS Lambda).
CommandBox and especially the ComamndBox docker image and CFConfig are awesome and are far ahead of many web tech stacks out there, but developers like to use modern language features that make their jobs easier and their code better. CFML just doesn't see that, never have, never will.
I'll likely continue the CFML ride until the end, but as a manager and one responsible for hiring and tech decisions, I will not be doing any new development in CFML.
We are migrating away from CF. Both in my last company we migrated from CF. It is hard to justify cost in open source world. It is very very difficult to get good CF developers who has experience in OOPS. It is definitely not easy to find CF jobs to advance the career. There is not single job in California in my salary range.
Thanks for putting these together each year. 🙂
Adobe has to fix the licensing per core issue. Last time we ordered new servers I had to custom order Dell to get 4 core CPUs so I could get by with a mere 2x Standard Licenses per server. Most standard CPUs in servers are 8-16 cores. No one is going to pay $5,000 for a server + Windows and then $25,000 for CF. You want to force people to Lucee? THIS is how you force people to Lucee.
Love CFML. My personal stuff is all done in Lucee.
Where you had operating systems you did not have Unix we use Oracle Solaris
Question about conference should have been altered due to the pandemic nobody can move at the moment.
Total number of responses
Join the CF Alive revolution
Discover how we can all make CF more alive, modern and secure this year. Join other ColdFusion developers and managers in the CF Alive Inner Circle today.- Get early access to the CF Alive book and videos
- Be part of a new movement for improving CF's perception in the world.
- Contribute to the CF Alive revolution
- Connect with other CF developers and managers
- There is no cost to membership.
