Forget what you think you know about CFML - Twin Cities Language User Group

On Thursday evening (Nov 12, 2009 @ 5:30) I will be speaking to the Twin Cities Language User Group about CFML.

The Twin Cities Language User Group is, to me, a unique group. It is not focused on a particular language or family of languages, its concept seems to be to bridge the divide between languages and to expose developers to new ideas and methodologies. It seemed like a perfect place to pitch CFML and show other developers just how great CFML is.

You can learn more about the Twin Cities Language User Group and RSVP for the meeting here

Here is the topic description:

Forget What you think you know about CFML (ColdFusion)

For over 14 years CFML has been facilitating Rapid Application Development through Adobe (previously Macromedia/Allaire) ColdFusion. CFML, the language that ColdFusion uses, is an easy-to-learn, powerful, web application development scripting language that receives high praise from those that use it. But until recently, CFML has been used by only a small subset of web application developers. This is changing, and fast!

Recently, two new, Free and Open Source CFML engines have been made available. Both are fast, powerful, and production-ready, giving everyone the opportunity to take a fresh look at CFML as a development tool for building web applications. Additionally, one of the biggest new releases of ColdFusion will be coming from Adobe soon. ColdFusion 9 features integration with amazing open source projects like Apache Lucene/Solr and JBoss Hibernate.

In this presentation we will look at CFML as a high-quality, efficient programming environment. CFML brings a lot to the table. With CFML you can:

• Build an entire web application application using either procedural or object-oriented programming methodologies
• Create a front-end for a Java or Groovy application
• Easily query any database that has a JDBC driver
• Create and consume SOAP and RESTful Web Services quickly and easily
• Build an efficient back-end for a Flex application in less time than with any other language

We will also look at the OpenCFML advisory committee's work in standardizing the language to ensure that it works consistently across engines and at choosing the right CFML engine for you.

Evangelizing CFML

As a community, I think we need to do more reaching out to other communities to let them know about CFML. Things have been getting A LOT better lately with spreading the word, but I just want to encourage all of you to look for opportunities like this to let people know that CFML is out there and is not dead. That it is not only a viable solution, but that it is awesome! Find a place to pitch CFML. One place specifically that would be a great start is at Java user groups. Since CFML compliments Java so perfectly, it seems like a no-brainer that Java developers would be interested. Another great place would be at barcamps or other small local conferences that focus on web development.

I will be releasing my slides and notes for this presentation under a Creative Commons license. I really want to encourage everyone to spread the word. When I do release the presentation please feel free to use it to pitch CFML wherever you feel it is appropriate. I will be happy to help you in anyway I can with the presentation, like answering questions that may not be covered in the notes.