worzel wrote: > Wth respect to coldfusion, is there much doubt about the fact that Python is > a more prominent and important technology? > > How is colfusion percieved by the Python community? Many people belive > coldfusion is becomeing irrelavant and is on its death bed - do Python folk > generally feel this way about it?
I think this is a little bit like comparing oranges to apples... I wouldn't say Coldfusion is a programming language. It is a tag based scripting language designed for web development and, as such, it is very easy to learn and use, but its application domain is limited to the web. It comes in handy if you're a designer with no programming skills and you want to hook your site to a database or do some easy web development, but I think that professional developers (non-designers) use other alternatives ranging from php (open source, free) to asp.net (propietary -MS). On the other hand, python is a general purpose programming language and it can be used for almost anything you can think of. It is not just a web scripting language. My advice: if you want to learn something for getting a job and making a living, forget about Coldfusion. It is ok for a web designer or for a hobbyist who doesn't know and doesn't want to know about programming, but who needs to get the job done with the least delay. Now if you're serious about making a living as a programmer, and you are willing to study and learn, (and provided you're new to programming) I would highly recommend python as your first language. It is very easy to learn and with it, you'll learn advanced programming concepts quickier and easier than by studying java, for example, because its syntax is cleaner and much more concise, easy to read and to the point. Then, and once you have a good grasp about the basics of programming and object oriented concepts, you will be able to learn any other language such as java or c# (for making big bucks). And if you are not interested in learning another language, python alone will make a very good general purpose programming language. Why the way, it's also very fun! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
