How to Create More CF Developers in Middleware-Earth
Michaela Light
Expert ColdFusion help for CIOs | CF Maintain, Modernize, Develop, Secure | CF Alive podcast | Author | Speaker | CEO
?? Legacy Coders: The Wizards of Yesteryear
Our tale begins with the seasoned sorcerers of code, those who've mastered the ancient runes of CF, including tags and custom tags. These wise beings crafted the foundations of Middleware-Earth, but as time passed, some remained nestled in the comforts of their mystical towers, hesitant to explore the expanding horizons of modern ColdFusion.
The Challenges They Face: Fear of the new realms (modern CFML code) and the belief that their ancient spells (legacy code) are sufficient to keep the darkness (inefficiency) at bay.
The Path Forward: We must extend our hands, or better yet, our staffs, to guide them towards enlightenment - embracing MVC frameworks, best practices, and the camaraderie of the ColdFusion community.
?“We're also seeing a lot of people on the other end of the spectrum who are what I'd call the legacy ColdFusion developers: people who learned how to use ColdFusion in maybe 2000, or 2001. They learned how to use the CF include tag and maybe custom tags, and they kind of stopped learning at that point. They're not doing object oriented development, they're not following best practices, they're not using MVC frameworks.
“There's a lot of web development still being done in ColdFusion where the developers are just using old technology – CF includes and custom tags and not a whole heck of a lot else. Either because they're scared to learn new things, or they think it's going to be overly complicated. Maybe they think it's too many files, or too much code. Perhaps it doesn’t actually solve the problem. Maybe they're just not aware of it either. There are a lot of people that just for whatever reason are not able to budget time and money to go to conferences and to learn what the current trends are.?
“I think we need to bridge that gap more and fix that problem. Let's take the people that are still writing code as if it's 2001, whether intentionally or otherwise, and help them improve. It's actually not that hard to go from your old CF to modern CF code.”- Nolan Erck , Owner and Chief Consultant at South of Shasta Consulting [https://southofshasta.com]
Students: The Future Wizards of CF
In our journey across Middleware-Earth, we've discovered a pressing need: the summoning of new developers. As we venture into the realms of education, we find that the future of our land depends on the young hobbits - students with a spark of interest in IT, awaiting a guiding light. Here is a deft, two-step plan which could help guide young students towards CF:
“To make ColdFusion more alive, I wish it gets included in the academic courses at schools and universities.”- Uma Ghotikar , Solutions Architect at ICF (From CF Alive episode, "077 Fundamentals of Unit Testing, BDD and Mocking (using TestBox and MockBox) with Uma Ghotikar")
??Onwards!
Prepare your scrolls and quills for next week's edition, where we shall delve deeper into the strategies of recruiting new members to our fellowship. From the halls of academia to the bustling marketplaces of job fairs, we shall uncover the secrets to attracting the brightest minds to the lands of Middleware-Earth.
P.S. If the ancient code of your CF application feels as dense and impenetrable as the forests of Mirkwood, fear not, bold 'Legolas of Web Development'! Send your message on the wind, a note via the swiftest Mirkwood spider, or a beam of light through the dense foliage. As wise as Gandalf confronting the Balrog, we stand ready to guide, transform, and protect your web presence. Together, let's navigate the twisted paths of outdated code, shining a light of modernity and efficiency on your project, much like the sun breaking through the dark canopy. Let's stride forward, casting aside the webs and shadows, to reveal a renewed, vibrant digital domain. ?????