From Spaghetti to Modern Frameworks - A Journey Through ColdFusion Application Architecture

This is a session I gave at Adobe CF Summit India in 2024.

I've been working with CFML for the better part of 25 years now. Over this time, we've come a long way in how applications in ColdFusion are being written. This is a somewhat lighthearted, yet technically insightful trip down memory lane as we explore the evolution of ColdFusion application architectures and frameworks.

This talk will cover the progression from early and really basic structural patterns to modern, sophisticated frameworks, highlighting how ColdFusion development practices have matured over the years.

Key Points:
1. Early days: Spaghetti code and the need for structure
2. Home-grown frameworks: Includes, Custom Tags, CFCs and basic Model-View-Controller
3. The rise of Fusebox: Introducing circuit and fuseaction concepts
4. Mach-II: Moving towards object-oriented design
5. FW/1: Lightweight alternative for rapid development
6. ColdBox: Full-stack HMVC framework revolution
7. Modern ColdFusion: Current best practices and architectural patterns

Throughout the presentation, we'll showcase code examples demonstrating the different styles and approaches of each era, sprinkled with some humorous anecdotes about the challenges developers faced.

We'll also discuss how these changes reflect broader trends in web development and how ColdFusion has changed to meet evolving industry needs.

This talk will provide valuable historical context for both seasoned ColdFusion developers and newcomers to the platform, offering insights into why certain patterns emerged and how they've shaped current best practices in ColdFusion application development.

Transcript

1. FROM SPAGHETTI TO MODERN FRAMEWORKS A Journey Through ColdFusion Application Architecture KAI KOENIG
2. HELLO HELLO, MY NAME IS KAI ▸ Software Architect in the back end and mobile app space ▸ Maths and Computer Science by education, 25+ yrs of industry experience ▸ Co-Organiser of CFCAMP in Germany ▸ Work interests: ▸ CFML, JVM tech, Python, Ruby and managing *nix infrastructure platforms ▸ Android, Kotlin, Flutter and building SDKs ▸ Data Science and AI ethics
3. Raffle (find the 4 hidden “Kiwiana” icons) https://www.flickr.com/photos/tschiae/8080742303/
6. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington
7. Importance of intentional architecture design Intentional architecture design is critical for the success of any software project. It establishes a clear framework that guides development efforts, ensuring that all components align with business objectives and user needs. By prioritising intentional design, organisations can enhance maintainability, scalability, and performance, while reducing technical debt and fostering a culture of collaboration among teams.
8. Importance of intentional architecture design Intentional architecture design is critical for the success of any software project. It establishes a clear framework that guides development efforts, ensuring that all components align with business objectives and user needs. By prioritising intentional design, organisations can enhance maintainability, scalability, and performance, while reducing technical debt and fostering a culture of collaboration among teams.
9. Importance of intentional architecture design Intentional architecture design is critical for the success of any software project. It establishes a clear framework that guides development efforts, ensuring that all components align with business objectives and user needs. By prioritising intentional design, organisations can enhance maintainability, scalability, and performance, while reducing technical debt and fostering a culture of collaboration among teams.
10. Why this talk? https://www.flickr.com/photos/tschiae/8080742303/ ?
11. https://xkcd.com/376
12. We need to understand where we come from ▸ The web as we know it started in the early 1990s ▸ ColdFusion stems from the second wave of web back end technologies, together with: ▸ ASP classic ▸ JSP ▸ PHP WHY THIS TALK?
14. ColdFusion and CFML had a wild journey ▸ DBML -> CFML in the mid-1990s ▸ Numerous Adobe CF server releases ▸ Platform transition to Java / JVM ▸ Consistently being called a dead language ▸ Modularisation and adaptability for cloud WHY THIS TALK?
15. The beginning Photo by Ksenia on Unsplash
16. THE BEGINNING The dawn of dynamic websites ▸ CGI and Perl dominated the industry ▸ Static HTML with minimal interactivity: ▸ Static forms submitted to CGI scripts ▸ Databases just started to be used in web apps ▸ ColdFusion was actually a game changer
17. THE BEGINNING In the beginning… there was chaos ▸ Early CF’s mission was connecting to databases ▸ Common “pattern”: ▸ Take existing static HTML page with tables, rename to .cfm ▸ Slap some <cfquery> code on the top of the page ▸ <cfoutput> around table Dynamic Pages/Content
18. Photo by Rick J. Brown on Unsplash WIN ?
20. THE BEGINNING Late 90s web revolution ▸ Rise of e-commerce ▸ First .com boom: ▸ Huge amounts of new sites used ColdFusion ▸ Browser wars driving first elements of client-side innovation
21. CFML improvements Photo by Sam Clarke on Unsplash
22. CFML IMPROVEMENTS First steps towards organisation ▸ <cfinclude> for simplistic code reuse ▸ Application.cfm ▸ Custom tags emerge Basic Modularisation
25. CFML IMPROVEMENTS Object-orientation takes hold ▸ Microsoft launches .NET framework ▸ Java dominates the enterprise: ▸ Struts framework (early MVC in Java) ▸ Rise of design patterns like the GoF patterns ▸ J2EE
26. CFML IMPROVEMENTS Components change everything ▸ Introduction of (somewhat) object-oriented concepts to CFML ▸ Benefits: ▸ “Objects” and “methods” ▸ Encapsulation ▸ Public/Private/Remote method accessibility Encapsulation
29. CFML IMPROVEMENTS Web standards ▸ XHTML / CSS ▸ XML becomes the dominating data format ▸ Trend towards separation of concerns
30. CFML IMPROVEMENTS DIY “Model”-”View”-”Controller” ▸ Separating business logic from view and often wildly constructed controllers ▸ Common concepts: ▸ Model: CFC and Custom Tags ▸ View: .cfm pages and Custom Tags ▸ Controller: basic routing concepts, often using including other elements Separation of Concerns
31. The framework era https://www.flickr.com/photos/tschiae/8080742303/
32. Fusebox: circuit-based architecture ▸ Core concepts: ▸ Circuits and Fuseactions ▸ XML configuration ▸ Standard-directory structure made it easy to migrate to Fusebox. ▸ Initially: Pre-CFC, later Fuse Box with CFCs was added THE FRAMEWORK ERA
35. Abstraction
36. Mach-II: a revolution? ▸ Mach-II was the first iteration of an intentional OO-framework for CFML: ▸ Event-driven architecture ▸ Listener/Handler pattern ▸ XML configuration THE FRAMEWORK ERA Event-driven
39. Rich Internet Applications ▸ jQuery brings JavaScript back: ▸ Solves browser incompatibility issues ▸ Offers easy API ▸ RIAs by Macromedia (and later Adobe): ▸ Ajax support in CFML ▸ Flash(forms) and Flex support in CFML ▸ JSON takes over from XML as the leading data/config format THE FRAMEWORK ERA
40. Convention over configuration with FW/1 ▸ Spiritual successor of Fusebox 5: ▸ Simplified structure ▸ Inspired by ideas from Ruby on Rails ▸ Conventions: ▸ Naming conventions instead of complex configuration and setup ▸ Zero-XML configuration THE FRAMEWORK ERA
42. FW/1 ecosystem ▸ Since version 3.1, FW/1 contains: ▸ DI/1 - a dependency injection framework ▸ AOP/1 for Aspect-oriented programming ▸ FW/1 also exists for Clojure THE FRAMEWORK ERA Convention over Configuration Dependency Injection
43. And there are (were) more… ▸ Recent and ongoing: ▸ ColdFusion built-in REST ▸ Taffy (lightweight REST APIs) ▸ CF On Wheels ▸ Historic: Model-Glue (incl. ColdSpring) THE FRAMEWORK ERA
44. Modern CFML architecture https://www.flickr.com/photos/tschiae/8080742303/ #now()#
45. The impact of the Node world ▸ Node and NPM changed the scene for package and library management ▸ CommandBox and Forgebox solve this problem for the CFML landscape ▸ JS frameworks dominate the client world: ▸ React ▸ Angular ▸ VUE MODERN CFML ARCHITECTURE Large-scale modularisation
46. ColdBox enters the room ▸ Not a framework, more of a platform: ▸ ColdBox HMVC ▸ TestBox, ContentBox, WireBox etc ▸ Core features: ▸ Dependency injection and routing ▸ Module-based design leading to extensibility ▸ REST APIs and support for SPAs MODERN CFML ARCHITECTURE Small-scale modularisation Testability
50. Looking forward Photo by peter lin on Unsplash
51. Today’s architecture requirements ▸ Cloud-ready: ▸ Small services or microservices and API-first design ▸ Container deployments ▸ Serverless deployments ▸ Trend towards leaving the hyperscalers and the idea of a “modern monolith” LOOKING FORWARD
52. Key takeaways ▸ Intentional architecture choices are (usually) the key to success. ▸ Evolution and architecture styles often mirrors industry trends. ▸ Modern CFML can compete with any web platform. ▸ You can build good systems with any tech, you can build terrible systems with any tech. ▸ Be adaptable to cloud and on-premise by building small, composable services. LOOKING FORWARD
53. Importance of intentional architecture design Intentional architecture design is critical for the success of any software project. It establishes a clear framework that guides development efforts, ensuring that all components align with business objectives and user needs. By prioritising intentional design, organisations can enhance maintainability, scalability, and performance, while reducing technical debt and fostering a culture of collaboration among teams.
54. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington
55. Photo by Corey Serravite on Unsplash
58. OTHER THINGS Get in touch Kai Koenig Email: kai@ventego-creative.co.nz CFML Slack: @agentk Boxteam Slack: @Kai Koenig LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaikoenig/ Slides: https://speakerdeck.com/therealagentk
59. ADVERTISEMENT 😸 https://www.papercall.io/cfcamp2025
60. Q & A ?
61. RAFFLE The Solution