We are here with John Farrar, author of "ColdFusion 8 Developer Tutorial"
John, you just completed your new book "ColdFusion 8 Developer Tutorial". What inspired you to write it?
John: We wanted a book that covered the topic for both beginners and those who are moving up to the new language. We didn't want to cover all the topics because that would take multiple books. Rather we choose to focus on building a good foundation for new CFML developers and then showing how to code with several of the key new features of ColdFusion 8 by Adobe. This is more of a bootcamp book is a great way to summarize it's contents and our goals.
What can readers expect to find in this book?
John: This book will teach about basic variables, understanding scope and persistence, CFCs, custom tags, the great new AJAX features, search tools, PDF including forms and the new presentation abilities. We also approach not just how the built in features can be used but how real world programmers are connecting to sites like Flickr and other social technologies. Today the strength of a platform is how easy it networks with other sites and solutions. ColdFusion is a deluxe choice when it comes to integration. This book looks at integration techniques over and over.
What does this mean for the ColdFusion community?
John: This is a more compact intense coverage of the topic. Expect it to give a developer what he needs to know to be useful as a new CFML coder. It will also help learn many of the key features of CF8. Lastly expect to be able to start reaching outside CFML using custom tags and CFCs to make coding day by day simpler and better using these packaging concepts to reuse rather than rewriting the same code over and over.
Do you plan to write more books in the future?
John: Yes, we have already talked about digging deeper into some advance topics with the publisher. We were not even done with the book and the publisher was so excited they were asking us about what direction to go next and offering some suggestions that are needed for our community.
Can attendees look forward to purchasing this book at CFUnited?
John: We are all pulling to get the book out for the conference. We don't have an official yes at this time but it is looking very good!
