Archive for the ‘Servers’ Category

If ColdFusion is dead, it’s Adobe that killed it.

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

(Or, ‘Controvertial ColdFusion post #34124′)

I’ve been using ColdFusion happily for the last 6 years. I can honestly say that if it weren’t for the ease of learning ColdFusion, and the instant gratification to be gained from rapidly developing apps that interact with databases, I’d have never found my way into backend development.

Like any language however, ColdFusion is not without its problems. We can compare functionality until the proverbial cattle return to their domiciles, but what I’d like to talk about is the culture of elitism that surrounds ColdFusion.

‘Elitism?!’ I hear you cry, ‘But ColdFusion is so easy to pick up, and the community is so friendly and welcoming! That’s hardly elitist, is it?’.

Yes. You’re right… but what I’m concerned with is the difficulty ColdFusion developers face in the environment in which they work. Adobe have done a very good job of making ColdFusion inaccessible to the masses by focussing on enterprise clients, inadvertently turning ColdFusion into quite an exclusive club.
Don’t believe me? Reel off the names of some well known ColdFusion celebrities… Ray Camden, Ben Nadel, Ben Forta, Et al. I’ll bet if you’re a ColdFusion developer, you’ll know who those people are. You’ll have read their blog posts, be aware of projects they’ve done. You’ll probably be able to list 10 more without too much trouble…
Well, you shouldn’t be able to do that – because the list should be huge. If we were talking about PHP, there’d be maybe 5,000 people in that list. In ColdFusion there’s maybe 20.

Let me explain… (more…)

Posted in ColdFusion, Railo, Servers, Website Development | 17 Comments »

Tutorial: Setting up a production Windows 2008 server with IIS7 & Railo

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Prologue:

In which Gary explains his new found appreciation for anyone who calls themselves a sysadmin.

I’m not a sysadmin. I like to make websites. It’s what I do, what I’ve always done.
Dealing with servers is the un-planned love child of my long term affair with website development. A horrid child that demands constant attention and gives nothing back in return.

In the past, I would point clients in the direction of a decent web host and let them get on with it, but as it turns out these clients would still phone me as the first point of contact when their servers went down, making me a mediator between them and their hosts. Frankly, I figured if I’m spending my time doing this anyway, I may as well get paid into the bargain.

Well, after four years of hosting client’s websites I can quite categorically state that sysadmins have one of the most difficult jobs imaginable. Anything can go wrong, at any time. Running a tight system involves research, dedication, and genuine enjoyment of high level tinkering.

If I’m ever in a position to employ a sysadmin, they will be treated well. I will make them tea. And cake. And give them sympathy.
Recently, after a long and gruelling battle with the most unreliable hosting company I’ve ever used, I finally took the plunge and set up my own Windows VPS using IIS7 & Railo. (more…)

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Posted in ColdFusion, Railo, Servers | 4 Comments »

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Simian Enterprises is the trading name of Gary Stanton, a freelance web developer working by the sea in Brighton, UK. Gary's been creating websites since 1996 and still loves it. Read more

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