ermm.. i do not agree if u said that coldfusion can do everthing ... until now .. what i can said that perl is the most powerful tools ..
the easiest doesn't mean the fastest in connection speed .. or the easiest to maintain .. or the most affordable tools ..
right now i'm using coldfusion but still i need shell scripting in certain part or perl in certain part or i'm fully hate cf then prefer to work with php
this is just my personal poit of view ..
and this is i show u the between coldfusion and php
Platform Support:
CF has a relatively limited platform selection. Windows, Solaris, Linux or
HP/UX. (Note, initial feedback shows that the Linux version may outperform
the Windows version by as much as 150%, woo hoo!)
PHP, if you can compile it, it will run.
Language:
CF is built for display code. It's scripting language is primitive and does
not support standard operator syntax or user-defined functions. But, it's
really fast and easy for display pages and database interaction.
PHP is built to write applications. The language is strong and very
flexible. Not as easy for the easy stuff, but much easier for the hard
stuff.
Database Support:
CF abstracts database connections, making them simple to use, and very easy
to change DB platform with no code changes. (With CF I can easily develop on
one database, and deploy on another.) Native DB support is only available in
the Enterprise product, and limited to just a few large products. Primary DB
support is through ODBC, which is fine with Windows, but is a PITA with
other platforms.
PHP has extremely strong native DB support. Different DBs have different
command syntax, making mid-stream database changes painful. A bit more
complex to retrieve results.
File-System Support:
CF has adequate file support, but is quirky and not feature-rich.
PHP has comprehensive file system support.
Regular Expressions:
CF has a basic RegEx capability.
PHP is on par with PERL for Regex.
Error-handling:
CF has good try/catch functionality, making formal error handling possible.
PHP has no formal error handling. (This can REALLY bite! Throwing error
messages to the browser is not acceptable behaviour.) What little
error-handling exists is inconsistent, and many errors cannot be trapped in
code at all.
Search Capability:
CF is bundled with Verity, a *very* capable and feature-rich "fuzzy" search
engine for both file searches and database content searches. I really miss
this when working with PHP.
PHP has no search capability.
Date-Handling:
CF will recognize just about any date format and convert on-the-fly with all
date functions.
PHP strtotime() can convert a couple of standard date formats (But is
undocumented). Dates must be converted to timestamp format for nearly all
functions.
Summary:
CF:
Platforms: Adequate
Language: Primitive, but passable
Database: Great syntax and abstraction
File handling: Adequate
RegEx: Adequate
Error Handling: Good
Search: Outstanding
Date-Handling: Nearly idiot-proof
Cost: $$$ to $$$$$$$$
PHP:
Platforms: Where do you want to run today?
Language: Feature-rich and flexible
Database: Great native support, bloated syntax
File handling: Comprehensive
RegEx: Outstanding
Error Handling: Poor
Search: Non-Existent
Date-Handling: Primitive
Cost: null