Dear CFBuilder,
I tried, I really tried. You came with a great reputation, and everyone stuck up for you. And though we’ve fought every single day for two years now I can honestly say that I’ve tried to make this relationship work.
I loved your code introspection. The ability to click on a method call and jump right to where that method is defined was a great help. And your ability to intelligently refactor code was also wonderful. There were little things too, like your built-in server controls. And of course I’ll never forget that your code hinting was completely up to date with CF9.
But living with you every day was difficult. Despite my 64bit 8gig machine you still managed to drag my entire system to a crawl. And I can never just start fresh with you; I think in files and code, but you were always demanding I make projects. I’ve already organize my project into folders on the drive; I’m not interested in duplicating the process for your benefit. But you never listen; it was your way or the highway. You threw a tantrum every time I tried to go around you and open a file directly from explorer.
You often get confused with files that contain a mix of SQL and Coldfusion or HTML, JS, and CF. This kills your code hinting and your syntax highlighter. Speaking of your syntax highlighter: it always dies on larger files, and has horrible refresh lag. I shouldn’t have to wait 30-45 seconds with each tab press when indenting codeblocks. I’ve wasted so much time waiting for you.
But I’ve said to much already. Afterall, its not you: its me. I’ve discovered that I’m more old fashioned than I realized. Despite all your bells and whistles all I really want is an IDE that is responsive. An IDE that will listen to me. All I really need is a solid text editor with syntax highlighting. You’re a lot of great things, but a snappy text editor is not one of them. I can type faster than you can think: and that’s not how it should be.
I don’t know whether I’ll run back to my ex, Dreamweaver, or if I’ll finally get serious with Notepad++, but neither have hesitated when helping me in the past. Its time to move on. We can try to be friends. Give me a call when Twister comes out.
Sincerely,
-Pirate Gaspard
Pirate Gaspard 