IDontCare.htm

I Don't Care What An ORM Is!

There have been <a href="http://www.firemoss.com/post.cfm/does-coldfusion-have-no-real-orm-frameworks" target="_blank">some</a> <a href="http://www.firemoss.com/post.cfm/what-makes-a-framework-an-orm" target="_blank">postings</a> recently about the state of the ORM landscape in ColdFusion, and while I have found this conversation interesting, I have not found it particularly useful.</p>
<p>There exists a group of ColdFusion developers, myself included, who would like to improve the way that we write and structure our code.  We have been encouraged to adopt a more object oriented approach to our development, and I, for one, have found it to be of great benefit.</p>
<p>One of the things that has made this transition easier for me is the existence of these "ORMs" for ColdFusion.  I started off with <a href="http://www.alagad.com/go/products-and-projects/reactor-for-coldfusion" target="_blank">Reactor</a>, and now use <a href="http://www.transfer-orm.com/" target="_blank">Transfer, and I have found that not only do these "ORMs" do a lot of the more menial tasks for me, but they also encourage me to "think in objects".  Sure, the objects that I'm working with are closely tied to the physical database structure, but they're still objects.  I still get the benefits of encapsulation, and through the use of Transfer decorators I feel that I am able to give my objects meaningful behaviour, thereby creating rich business objects.</p>
<p>I know from experience that when a developer is starting down this path it can be quite daunting, and we often look to those with more experience than ourselves for guidance.  I hope that someone in that boat would not be "turned off" the existing set of "ORMs" for ColdFusion because they are not considered to be true ORMs.</p>	
 <p>This brings me to the title of this post, which was inspired by a post by <a href="http://www.pbell.com/index.cfm/2008/10/27/I-Dont-Care-What-An-Object-Is" target="_blank">Peter Bell</a>.  I find Transfer to be an indispensable tool for building OO-like applications with ColdFusion, and can only encourage people to investigate and use it.  It may not be a true ORM, but that doesn't make it any less useful.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.</p>