New ColdFusion bridges .NET and Java
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The newly released version of ColdFusion will allow Web application developers to easily work with Microsoft .NET objects.
The newly released version of ColdFusion will allow Web application developers to easily work with Microsoft .NET objects even if they are building their sites on a Java platform, said Adam Lehman, Adobe ColdFusion specialist. This advancement could help quell charges that ColdFusion has fallen behind the times.
Earlier this week, Adobe released version 8 of its ColdFusion Web development software. Critics of the platform have accused ColdFusion of not keeping pace with the world of Web application development, notably because it failed to integrate with .NET. The new version offers native integration with that platform.
"It works with .NET objects natively just like it already works with Java objects natively," Lehman said. An object is a software component that executes a specified function. Platforms such as .NET or Java 2 Enterprise Edition allow developers to reuse objects across different Web applications on that platform.
Because ColdFusion itself was built on Java, its new capability can be used to bridge the worlds of J2EE and .NET, according to Lehman.
"You can have pure Java stack, such as Solaris or Linux running Java, but we can call .NET objects from a Windows server remotely through proxies. It is completely transparent to the user," he said.
"You can still leverage SharePoint and other .NET developments, but continue following the J2EE path. You don't have to run J2EE on Windows," he said. "We haven't seen any other vendors do this."
In addition to platform integration, the new version of ColdFusion also includes new performance-tuning tools, integration with other Adobe multimedia offerings such as Flex, the LiveCycle workflow application, Portable Document Format and the newly launched Adobe Integrated Runtime, a cross-platform application foundation.
ColdFusion will come in two editions, an enterprise version for high-traffic multisite environments and a standard edition for smaller shops.
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