"Should CFML developers switch to Java?" asks Andrew Powell in an article this week at SYS-CON.com. "No," he answers. ColdFusion is the fastest way to get data to AJAX, Flex, Silverlight, and even JavaFX, according to Powell, who adds: "ColdFusion also provides complex services easier than Java, .NET, Ruby or whatever wishes they could." 

"Simply put," writes Powell, "ColdFusion is a J2EE app that enables you to be more productive than if you were writing pure Java or CFML code, alone.  Look at it, and embrace it as such, and a whole new world will open up to you, as a CFML or Java developer."

Powell's advice to his fellow developers is to let ColdFusion focus on three things: 

Getting data into and out of RIA front-ends
Rendering HTML with dynamic data
Providing services that Java and .NET cannot provide

"Beyond that," he advises, "let Java, .NET, or whatever do the work at the model layer."

Read Andrew Powell's two most recent opinion pieces in full here and here.

• Silverlight 2.0 - One RIA Framework to Rule Them All
• Forrester Turns Its Back On AJAX
• Sun Shows How JavaFX Creates Rich Internet Applications at JavaOne
• JFX and the Way Forward After JavaOne 2008
• What Is ColdFusion in the Age of Java?
• Opinion: Give ColdFusion Some Room to Breathe
• Sun Frees Rich Internet Applications from Browsers, Releases JavaFX 1.0
• JavaFX vs Silverlight vs Flex