Code Goblins and Navigating the Legacy ColdFusion Landscape

Greetings, brave souls of the ColdFusion realm! If you've been trekking through the dark and treacherous terrain of "Legacy Code Hell," don't despair; there's hope yet. And no, you don't need a fellowship for this one—just a little guidance and a good sense of humor! ??

The Dark Shadows of Legacy ColdFusion

• ??? Picture this: wandering through the caverns of Moria, surrounded by old and weary code goblins, causing havoc in your app, and accumulating technical debt like an orc amassing weaponry. Yes, this is legacy hell.
• ?? Legacy hell isn't just a tricky path—it's forged by neglect. Like an unattended forge in Isengard, poor maintenance and missing modernization have allowed the code to go wild. Some even whisper of unused code, abandoned like the lost city of Osgiliath.

Q: Why the Middleware-Earth Metaphor?

A: I find learning about modern CF methods works best with a some light LOTR humor! Otherwise our journey could get depressing :-) Now back to our legacy travels:

CF Legacy Hell problems

?? Legacy hell is like willingly walking into Mordor, then gasping in shock at the peril that surrounds it. But remember:

• Extra stress from the Eye of Sauron (system glitches).
• Inefficiency akin to lost hobbits in Fangorn Forest.
• Skyrocketing costs as unpredictable as Gollum's moods.
• Slower development, much like Treebeard's pacing.
• Stagnation resembling a sleepy Bombadil.

A Tale of Redemption: The University of California Davis

• ??? Adobe’s own CF Gandalf, Mark Takata, ventured forth to aid his alma mater, UC Davis. Here, the ColdFusion-driven system buckled under the sheer force of students trying to register, leading many to blame the system.
• But just as Gandalf uncovered the Balrog's true nature, Takata realized it wasn’t ColdFusion's fault, but rather its setup. His interventions led the university from the mines of Moria to the safety of Lothlórien.

“It was a really, really great example of where ColdFusion was being blamed for a lot of things,” Takata said during an episode of the ColdFusion Alive Podcast. “It wasn’t the ColdFusion causing the problems. It was the way that the ColdFusion was set up.”

Revealing Hidden ColdFusion

• ?? ColdFusion's magic isn't limited to the public eye. Did you know NASA uses ColdFusion extensively behind the scenes?
• ?? Many realms, err... companies, have three times as many intranet sites as public ones.?

Legacy ColdFusion: What's Lurking in the Shadows?

• Hard to Maintain Code: Like trying to decipher the Black Speech of Mordor.
• Deadwood Code: Abandoned code like the deserted halls of Erebor.
• Spaghetti Code: A code tangle reminiscent of Shelob's webs.
• Technical Debt: Quick fixes and skipped updates lay traps for the future.
• Security Concerns: Older Adobe ColdFusion versions are like ancient, unguarded fortresses.

But fear not! If these dangers are foreign tales to you, rejoice! You've successfully see the details of legacy hell to avoid. And if these legacy evils are well known to you, that let's you better guard against them in the future.

Luis Majano, our Aragorn of ColdFusion, beautifully states, "A lot of people still believe that ColdFusion is like how it was ten years ago... It’s up to us to say, ‘Look at the great applications we're building. Look at the tooling we have.'"

From this CF Alive episode, “044 CommandBox + ForgeBox: ColdFusion Code, Package, Share, Go!”

Dear ColdFusion developers, the path ahead might seem fraught with challenges, but with the right guidance, modern tools and updates, we can steer clear of legacy pitfalls. Onward to the next adventure!

?? If this newsletter resonated with you, or if you've faced a Code Golbin (or two) in your coding journey, subscribe to our CF newsletter, share your tales and let's keep the ColdFusion community thriving! ??