I started out by only coding CFML in tags, being self-taught I had to go by what people were using to show how to do basic things, as I progressed I learned how to expand on that knowledge, but kept working in tags because, well, that's what I was used to.
I've looked into CFScript in the past, but didn't really start practicing until more recently (A few months ago), writing new CFCs in script and taking the opportunity to practice my cfscript-fu while updating old code.
I saw Adam Camerons post about him helping someone convert old tag-based code into cfscript, and it made me think (And ask) "Why is cfscript better?"
After many messages between me and Adam Cameron, and between me an Sean Corfield (Both are programmers I highly recommend following on blogs and twitter), I'm *still* not sure what's so great about cfscript compared to cftags.
Ps. I hate twitter for discussions.
Neither Adam nor Sean can, in my not-always-so-humble-opinion tell me in simple terms what's so great about cfscript.
It seems to boil down to personal choice (Unless you ask Sean, who will tell you what an evil man you are for using tags. Not a direct quote.)
Check out Adams blogpost about script vs tags, it's an interesting read and he has a different take on it than I do.
I'm always looking to improve my skillset, because programming is awesomely fun :)
I'm now coding in both tags and script, mostly writing new CFCs in cfscript, because it means I'm learning new stuff, while adding useful skills to my skillset, learning cfscript was natural to do because it's used all over the place, and a lot of shops and companies use it to a varying extent.
Overall, I don't know of any inherent benefits to using cfscript, while it sometimes *feels* like it's executing faster than tagbased code, that's not exactly empirical proof, I've yet to find any *real and proven* benefits to cfscript in terms of performance.
It's been debated that it's better to use cfscript because it's closer to other languages, since CFML is the only tag-based language around.
Personally I don't find it very beneficial to know a language similar to a new one, and I still think of cftags and cfscript as just two different syntax-sets to the same language.
Sean thinks it's harder for someone to learn any other real language, coming from CFML tags, and noted it as a reason for not hiring someone.
I agree, but only if the person *only* knows CFML tags and nothing else..
But I don't know any web developer who don't also speak at least JS, so right there that argument fall, unless he's ever looked to hire someone who *only* speaks CFML, and literally nothing else.
From what I know there is nothing available in CFScript that isn't available in CFTags, and vice versa, there isn't any performance gain to either.
It seems that many people feel that tags are too close to html, being inside of <>, and should thus not be anywhere near business logic
I do find it amusing that CFML = ColdFusion Markup Language, which is only sortof true after the introduction of CFScript.
I'm not "defending" the use of tags, again I code in both, I just wanted to see if anyone could give me actual, specific reasons why cfscript is better than tags, and so far... I haven't seen it.
I'm filing this under "Personal preference", maybe some day I'll have that Aha-moment when working with script and write a post about it.
