Alpha Five compared favorably to ColdFusion by users on LinkedIn

The other day, I made my way over to the "Alpha Five group," on LinkedIn, a place where Alpha-holics can unite to discuss and share all things Alpha. While I was there, I read a discussion between a few of my colleagues and friends comparing ColdFusion to Alpha Five.

They raised key similarities, differences, advantages, and disadvantages of both platforms from the user's point of view. Here's a copy of the thread:

Alan Singer: As a "novice" to RAD platforms and in the interest of being able to answer the question if I am asked .....Coud I request some informed input please..I am Interested in comparing and contrasting Alpha 5 to Cold Fusion HAs anyone used both and what are the key similarities, differences, advantages, disadvantages?Cold Fusion is is said to have been "....originally designed to make it easier to connect simple HTML pages to a database- by version 2 (1996) it had become a full platform that included an IDE in addition to a "full" scripting language. As of 2010 (?), versions of ColdFusion (purchased by Adobe Systems in 2005) include advanced features for enterprise integration and development of rich Internet applications. "

Heman Smith: The ColdFusion environment is more like Visual Studio & .Net than AlphaFive. ColdFusion is still a coding/scripting environment predominantly, not a RAD tool per se. It IS much faster to develop in than .Net or php or other coding environments, but you can't use it to create an application without coding, even if you're using Dreamweaver as the WYSIWYG development front end. Alpha Five is a much more complete application development tool set for anyone wanting accelerated development of database driven web-based apps. I've used both. I managed a team that did a major corporate portal in ColdFusion, coupled with and Oracle backend. Eight years ago. If I would have had Alpha Five back then we could have done twice as much in half the time.

Alan Singer: Thanks Heman. Very helpful and useful answer. Hit the spot for what I was seeking! I am evaluating Alpha 5 to use as a basis of a major product development - in two versions - a customer-hosted web app and an alternate variant being a "multi-tenanted" - hosted in the cloud application - and not just a single instance custom application - what comments do you have for me in that regard? 

Heman Smith: AlphaFive can be used to develop both. Most of that decision is an architectural and security issue, not the tool itself per se. (IMHO). AlphaFive handles both very well. I've invited some people at Alpha Five who are more familiar with using AlphaFive for a true SaaS offering of single-instance, multi-tenant, than I am. But I've noticed earlier elements about doing that in their forums. I expect they'll chime in before long. :-)

Dmitri Dumas: HI folks. Just a question here. I do A5 desktop apps. If I want to go web apps, can I combine the entire A5 desktop/webb into 1 desktop shortcut insted of having a shorcut icon for desktop apps and another shortcut for web apps? 

James Talbott: You can certainly launch the web app from a button in the desktop (using a hyperlink to a URL). Opening a desktop app from a web app is much more challenging.

So there you have it folks! This is what makes social media so powerful. If you're already a member of the Alpha group on LinkedIn, don't be shy and share! If you're not a member, what are you waiting for? Join today and let's keep the discussion going.