Caution: this is a bit of a rant / lecture…
> I'm just a scripter at heart. Reading some of the comments here gives me pause.
> ...
> I guess there's also the step-the-f-up and learn something new point of view, but ... the more you diverge from ACF the harder it will be for people to take that leap.
Unrelated to image manipulation (and changing the subject to reflect that), but I’ll comment on it anyway: what would you rather have to do… learn some new stuff while still writing CFML in the Lucee world, or find yourself forced to learn a completely new language because CFML "scripter" jobs simply go away as companies move to "real" programming languages that are (perceived to be) more capable?
Yes, many of us have been pushing the "step-the-f-up" p.o.v. for years because part of why companies move away from CFML is the perception that CFML devs are not "real" programmers and are not able to do more than just basic scripting. It’s why, even now, many CFML shops are hiring from outside the CFML pool and cross-training - they can’t find "good" CFML devs.
As a hiring manager, I’m very disappointed with the quality of CFML devs whose résumés I have to plough through and those I interview. A large number still have no experience with / knowledge of:
* version control
* unit testing or TDD
* OOP in any form
* closures or any other functional concepts
* other languages (beyond JS - and that’s often minimal)
Many CFML devs seem to do no tech reading to expand their skills, don’t participate in the online community much, don’t attend conferences. And blaming their employer for that just shows a lack of initiative and desire to improve in my opinion.
So, yeah, I’m not very sympathetic to "scripters" who don’t want to "step-the-f-up" as a hiring manager…
Yes, CFML makes a lot of stuff easy, and it has always allowed untrained folks to build basic apps, but we’re being asked to build more complex stuff these days, and produce code that is more maintainable, more malleable, more robust and so, yes, we all need to "step-the-f-up".