Aaron West - For the past nine years I have been heavily involved in the Web development space building enterprise-level, database-driven Web applications and leading technology teams. I'm incredibly passionate about what I do and attempt to inject my enthusiasm and love for technology in all those around me.

CFUnited session: New Caching Features in ColdFusion 9

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

Yes! I've attended CFUnited for years but last year was my first time speaking. I did a talk on ColdFusion 9, BlazeDS, and AIR integration.

2. Why should people attend your sessions?

Because it will be the best? Ha, all kidding aside, my talk on caching should be attended by those who need to make the most out of their Web apps. It's not enough to write code and deploy it to a badass server. You need to write code a certain way to ensure it performs as expected and scales as needed. Understanding caching in ColdFusion 9 (as well as how to use it) should be a critical component in every developers toolbox.

3. Do you have any projects in the works that you will be revealing at CFUnited?

Absolutely. I'm currently working on a new technology startup that's using ColdFusion (and other Adobe technology) as part of our development stack. By the time CFUnited rolls around we should have our first customers in production.

4. Besides your topic, what other sessions are you looking forward to?

What interests me most are the ColdFusion integration topics. My favorites are the ones that tie Flex/AIR and ColdFusion together, but anything that involves building compelling Web applications with ColdFusion and other technologies are the most intriguing.

5. What are some of the hot topics you'd like to see at RoundTable discussions?

Personally, I'm interested in the role cloud technology will play in the application server space. I used to think this was cutting edge stuff until I started researching and found people deploying cloud solutions as early as 2006. From a developer perspective, it's still somewhat new and there's not a lot of exposure to folks using ColdFusion in the cloud. I think this will be changing throughout 2010 and beyond. Roundtable discussions are always fun, and one centered on the impact of cloud technology on ColdFusion would be delicious!

6. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

Simple, where the action is! During the day I'm attending sessions and hanging out in the hallways and vendor booths. I love chatting it up with other developers and enjoying hearing about other folks projects. At night, I can be found wherever the beer is located.

7. What's the latest news with you? Has anything changed since last CFUnited?

What hasn't changed? The last several months have been quite awesome. Toward the end of 2009 I made a big decision to leave my employer of 5 years. I'm now working on a new technology startup and loving every single minute of it. It's amazingly challenging work but comes with some great rewards too. I've had to break out of my shell and learn several new technologies and bone up on a few rusty ones. The experience has been positive and I hope to be sharing much more about what I'm doing at CFUnited 2010.

8. What is unique about CFUnited?

CFUnited presents the most unique opportunity to learn from other developers. Sure there are fantastic topics and speakers - all of which are extremely valuable - but CFUnited is the one spot, all year, where hundreds of ColdFusion developers get together to talk shop. If you can't engage with others and learn something from both the sessions and the unstructured time, you are simply discarding a big part of what CFUnited is all about. Forget about going to bed early; you can sleep when you get home. Attend sessions, talk to the speakers and other attendees. Learn what others are doing (and what they aren't doing) and leave the conference having capitalized on every opportunity to grow as a developer.

9. What do you like to do in your free time?

Many geeks will say they don't have free time but I'm not one of them. Having time to recharge my batteries and focus on non-technical things is very important to me. Most of my free time is spent with my wife and son who are the most important things in my life. I love coming home to them and simply hanging out and playing cars or trains. I'm also big into reading and spend a lot of time with my Kindle. I try to read at least one book a month and often get in two. I'm also an avid motorcyclist - I ride a Yamaha R6 sportbike - and scuba diver.

This entry was posted on March 22, 2010 at 9:41 AM and has received 3253 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Bob Silverberg - has been developing software for nearly twenty years, the past ten of which have been devoted to web application development with ColdFusion. He runs a small development company from his home in Toronto, where he divides his time between client work, open source development and taking care of his two young sons. He is an active participant on a number of ColdFusion mailing lists and blogs at www.silverwareconsulting.com.

CFUnited sessions: Automagic Validations for ColdFusion Objects
What Your Mother Never Told You About ColdFusion 9 ORM

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

No, I have not.

2. Why should people attend your sessions?

In my "What Your Mother Never Told You About ColdFusion 9 ORM" session I'll be covering a number of topics that are important to understand when working with CF's new ORM features, but that are not covered in the Adobe documentation. These include some advanced techniques, but also a number of gotchas that you are likely to fall prey to if you don't take the time to learn a bit about what goes on "under the covers".

My "Automagic Validations for ColdFusion Objects" session covers the use of a tool which will address all of your application's validation needs. If you're tired of writing both client-side and server-side validation code or are wondering exactly where to place the validation logic in your object oriented application, this session will offer some useful solutions.

3. Do you have any projects in the works that you will be revealing at CFUnited?

My validation framework is continually evolving so no doubt I'll have some new things to show off at CFUnited.

4. Besides your topic, what other sessions are you looking forward to?

Well, there haven't been that many sessions announced yet, but of the ones that have been announced I'd say I'm looking forward to Dan Wilson's session on Making Bad Code Good, because any session by Dan Wilson is sure to be fun and enlightening, and also Jason Dean's session on Practical Ajax Security, because when it comes to security Jason is da man, and it's a topic that I really need to learn more about.

5. What are some of the hot topics you'd like to see at RoundTable discussions?

I'm always interested in hearing about how people apply object oriented principles to ColdFusion development. A roundtable on open source development in the ColdFusion community would be welcome as well. Of course I'm hoping that Marc Esher and a bunch of other fun folks will get a chance to host an end-to-end testing roundtable this year - that will be fantastic, and a topic that should be of interest to any web developer.

6. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

In sessions, of course, and in the common areas between sessions. Those "hallway chats" are often the most interesting and inspiring of all. At the end of the day I'll likely spend some time in the bar, catching up with old friends and making new ones. If you see me anywhere, please introduce yourself and say hello.

7. What's the latest news with you? Has anything changed since last CFUnited?

Things are pretty much the same for me as last year. My sons are now 3 and 5, so they keep me busy. I recently started playing tennis again, after a two-year hiatus. From a technical standpoint the new stuff I've been working with includes CF's new ORM features and Git (version control software). Oh, and I made the switch from a PC to a Mac around six months ago and have been very happy with the change.

8. What is unique about CFUnited?

I'm not in a very good position to answer that question having never attended a CFUnited. I did attend a couple of CFUN conferences many years ago and they were, as the name suggests, fun.

9. What do you like to do in your free time?

I enjoy tennis and skating (which I'm just now learning to do), cooking, spending time with my family, and I've been trying to learn to play the guitar for a few years now.

This entry was posted on February 10, 2010 at 11:39 AM and has received 2748 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Here is a round up of the recent CFConversation podcasts that spotlight the CFUnited conference, sessions, and speakers. Big thanks to Brian Meloche for doing such an awesome job of organizing and hosting the podcasts!

Barney Boisvert - this episode in the Speakers of CFUnited series features Barney Boisvert. This is a great episode, which was recorded on Day 2 of CFObjective in May. Barney talks about his session, CFGroovy - Groovy for the CFML Developer, which he's doing Thursday at 4:45pm at CFUnited. Of course, that means he talks about Groovy and why he uses it with CF. We also talk about Hibernate, Grails, Fusebox and his mini Fusebox-inspired framework called FB3Lite.

CFUnited 2009 Day 2, Part 1 - The new venue for CFUnited this year, Stellr, the day 1 keynotes from Liz Frederick and Adobe, day 1 sessions, birds of a feather and hints at several other things that we dive deeper into in part 2. On the roundtable panel: Brian Meloche, John Mason, Timothy Farrar, John Farrar, Anita Neal, and Jason Dean

CFUnited 2009 Day 2, Part 2 - Covering a lot of stuff, including things both at the conference and other things to think about. Joe Reinhart's inspiring day 2 keynote that prominently featured Todd Sharp's Slide Six site as an example of sites CF developers should aspire to build rather than oldschool CF CRUD-style apps that ColdFusion no longer has the same advantages it historically had over other languages.We discuss some of the interesting day 2 sessions we attended. Janine Driver, Mark Phillips, Charlie Arehart, Mike Brunt, Adam Haskell and Barney Boisvert were singled out as speakers with interesting talks. Lastly, some of the demo derby apps were discussed, as the two Johns and Timothy are each competing in the derby.

Lawrence Cramer - Lawrence is speaking (in one hour! - apologies to all) on Real World eCommerce with ColdFusion, and he talks about his presentation. He also talks about how he got started in Dreamweaver and later ColdFusion, ColdFusion 9/ColdFusion Builder (still code named, at the time) and some other projects.

Post-CFUnited 2009: Wrap-up, Withdrawal & Fallout - a post-CFUnited 2009 "wrap-up fallout" roundtable, where we review the conference as a whole, "post-conference withdrawal and fallout" of things that both happened and what didn't happen during the conference. On this roundtable, we have: Brian Meloche, Adam Haskell, Dan Wilson, John Farrar, and Mark Mandel

This entry was posted on August 31, 2009 at 12:38 PM and has received 3608 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Oguz Demirkapi - Code poet and lover of all things related to intelligent web technologies. He started developing CGI web applications in 1994 and has developed cutting edge ColdFusion applications since 1997. Serving as Chief Technological Officer or Senior Developer for many well known commercial and Blue Chip companies in Turkey, Germany and the U.S., O?uz has been a fixture in the ever evolving realm of computer science and a selfless mentor to aspiring developers. He remains active in various user groups such as Linux, ColdFusion, Flex etc. and was the founder and leader of CFTR - ColdFusion Turkey User Group, an emerging hub of ColdFusion development.
CFUnited sessions: Building Scalable Web Applications with ColdFusion , Geolocation with ColdFusion

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

Yes, I have spoken on i18N (Internationalization) on ColdFusion which was probably one of the first talks given on this topic in the US. CFUnited is the premier ColdFusion conference that every CFML developer should experience in order to feel the power and excitement of such a vibrant community. I used to work for TeraTech at two consecutive CFUnited events (2006, 2007) and as an insider I consider it to be the most enjoyable and beneficial part of my time in the D.C. area. My simple advice, just go for it!

2. Why should people attend your session(s)?

I will be covering 2 different topics this year. The first topic will cover some of the aspects of creating scalable CFML applications. Having worked on and architected many diverse projects, from simple to complex, across various platforms including Perl, C/C++, and PHP, I'd like to synthesize these perspectives in order to bring solutions to the CFML platform. Currently we are rewriting our main application and my daily routine revolves around thinking about and implementing powerful, scalable, and maintainable applications/platforms. The second topic, geolocation, is not so well known in the ColdFusion community. I'd like to showcase the beauty of some of the new application ideas to geolocation. This should be a lot of fun and perhaps in return, will inspire new visions for your own applications.

3. Do you have any projects in the works that you will be revealing at CFUnited?

I look forward to sharing with the CFUnited community, the i18N translation manager tool I've developed. What this tool provides is a management platform for multilingual application implementation that you can embed to your admin or just use as a standalone application to manage your translation needs with versioning and import/export features for ColdFusion or Flex properties files.

4. Besides your topic, what other sessions are you looking forward to?

I really would like to see topics discussing cloud computing power, CFML & Flex & BlazeDS integrations and of course Railo and open source world opportunities. I think the most important step will be the new ColdBox version which introduces many new features.

5. What are some of the hot topics you'd like to see at RoundTable discussions?

I think new opportunities with the open source Railo platform will be the most interesting talk. Questions such as the future of the ColdFusion and OOP implementations in CFML world will still be the popular topics.

6. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

I will be everywhere. If you see somebody taking strange photos in strange locations, that's me! :)

7. What's the latest news with you? Has anything changed since last CFUnited?

I've moved to California just after the last CFUnited. I came to CA by way of a week long, adventurous cross country drive. It was an interesting experience for me and my family. We are now in sunny southern California; one of the best locations in the U.S.--Orange County. I have also created a new user group in my area and I am the founder/manager for OCDev - Orange County Adobe Developers User Group (http://ocdev.org)

8. What is unique about CFUnited?

CFUnited is a focal point and unifying presence in the ColdFusion world. ColdFusion developers, Unite! :)

9. What do you like to do in your free time?

Mainly I play chess and Go. For sporting activities, I enjoy table tennis and surfing. Reading/writing on philosophy and especially epistemology have been long time interests. Life is good!

This entry was posted on August 3, 2009 at 2:45 PM and has received 3250 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Jeff Peters

CFUnited Class: CU248 - jQuery and ColdFusion August 11, 2009 9:00am - 5:30pm

1. Why did you create this class?

Well, I started out teaching jQuery as a separate class about a year ago. It was a fun class, but I met an increasing number of CF developers who hadn't investigated jQuery because they felt that it just duplicates features that are available in ColdFusion, especially CF8. While it's true that many of the tasks that jQuery handles well are also addressed by features in CF, I find that it's very beneficial to be able to take advantage of both technologies.

2. Are you going to cover jQuery first, or ColdFusion?

The focus of the class is really on how jQuery and ColdFusion can work and play well together. We'll spend a bit of time discussing each side of the house, but most of the time will be spent on combining the two.

3. Aren't jQuery and ColdFusion mutually exclusive?

Not at all. As I already mentioned, this is the misconception that originally prompted me to design the class. It's important to understand that CF is a tool that generates code to run on the browser, and jQuery is code that runs on the browser as well. If we understand both technologies from the browser's context, we can make use of them together in very interesting and useful ways.

4. Do attendees need to know jQuery and ColdFusion in order to take the class?

I'm expecting students to know ColdFusion, but not necessarily jQuery. This seems to be the typical scenario, especially in the context of a conference like CFUnited, where attendees are typically familiar with CF. We'll be spending some time in the first part of the class talking about the fundamentals of jQuery, so if you don't know any jQuery, you'll be raring to go by the end of the day.

5. What will attendees know at the end of the day?

Beats me--I don't know if you'll pay attention. Seriously, though, the class is designed to open up a whole box of fun stuff for creating great user experiences with good ol' HTML.

6. How will this class benefit an attendees career?

If your career has anything to do with building front-ends for web applications (or HTML-based desktop applications), you'll find something useful in this class. My intent is to fuel students' imaginations so that they'll feel enabled to explore their own ideas.

7. What should attendees bring to the class?

The biggest thing that will help is your imagination, and perhaps some ideas for an application you're currently developing. You should bring your laptop, with CF installed. I'll provide jQuery and instructions on how to install it, use it, and extend it. Of course, if you're already tinkering with jQuery and have it, that's even better. I look forward to seeing you there!

This entry was posted on July 22, 2009 at 12:33 PM and has received 3150 views. There are currently 2 comments. Print this entry.

Luis Majano - Computer Engineer currently employed at ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) in Southern California. He was born in San Salvador, El Salvador and is the president of Ortus Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in Adobe ColdFusion & Java development. His background includes over 9 years of software development experience, architecture and system design. He is the creator of ColdBox (www.coldboxframework.com), an open source Object Oriented ColdFusion framework and is the Adobe ColdFusion user group manager for the Inland Empire. You can also read his blog at www.luismajano.com

CFUnited Class: CBOX-100 : Intro To ColdBox August 11, 2009 9:00am - 5:30pm

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past? What would you tell someone who hasn't been to CFUnited before?

Yes, last year was my first CFUnited experience. I had never been to CFUnited before and I had a blast. It was an incredible conference and I know that this year will be no different. The conference is packed with lots of sessions and great time for networking and learning. If you have not been to a CFUnited before, I definitely encourage you to do so. In every little corner of the location you can find interesting topics and overall ColdFusion awesomeness.

2. Who should attend your session "CBOX-100: Intro to ColdBox"?

Intro to ColdBox is an intense 1-day training course that will get you started with ColdBox Application Development. This course focuses on the main aspects of ColdBox Development and it delivers a one-two punch in order to get you started in no time. The content materials are awesome and in book format, so you always have reference materials at hand. Not only that, the course comes with a set of exercise booklets and workshops that could keep you busy for at least 3 weeks. We also give you lots of schwag and an entire eclipse workstation already configured with lots of goodies. In other words, this course really gives you with a lot of materials in order to get your development in tip top shape.

The course curriculum can be found here: http://coldbox.org/index.cfm/courses/cbox100

3. Are there any pre requisites?

1. Lots of coffee!
2. Basic CFC knowledge
3. A laptop with a CFML Engine (Being political here)
4. The willingness to learn

4. What are some key points to take away from this class?

The main point to take away from this class is the general concept of what ColdBox can do for you or your business. You will get to see first-hand all the features and concepts that make ColdBox a next generation ColdFusion Development Platform. The second point is materials. I have spent more than 2 years preparing all the course materials, documentation, schwag, exercises and software. So you will be more than satisfied with the incredible amount of material you can take home, where the real learning really starts.

You can see some testimonials here: http://coldbox.org/index.cfm/training Or video testimonials here: http://coldbox.org/index.cfm/media

This entry was posted on July 16, 2009 at 2:30 PM and has received 4540 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Shlomy Gantz - President and founder of BlueBrick Inc. He has over a decade of management experience in the hi-tech industry, and an extensive background in application development, database integration and project management. He works with Fortune 500 companies around the world. He frequently presents in technology and management conferences and various user groups across US and Europe. Prior to founding BlueBrick, Mr. Gantz was a Senior Consultant for Computer Horizons, working for some of the nation's major airlines. Mr. Gantz was also the co-founder and vice president of technology for CoreActive ACG, a leading provider of web based solutions.

CFUnited Class: Managing Web Projects for Developers August 11, 2009 9:00am - 5:30pm

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past? What would you tell someone who hasn't been to CFUnited before?

Yes, I have been speaking at CFUNITED since the first one and am always excited to come back.

CFUNITED Newbies should always check out the hotel bar, this is where you will usually find speakers arguing the finer points of CFSCRIPT vs. CFML tags, or even an Adobe employee that while under the influence might let something slip about ColdFusion 10, you never know.

2. Who should attend your session "Managing Web Projects for Developers", is it mainly for project managers?

Actually, the class is mainly geared toward any developer that needs to manage others or even themselves. I often find that even the best coders have a hard time managing others. The seminar will be useful not only for the corporate developer but also for those of us doing freelance work.

3. Are there any pre requisites?

At least a year or two developing web based apps

4. What are some key points to take away from this class?

I think the main take away would be a better understanding of what works and what doesn't in the real world of software project management. While the seminar is completely buzzword compliant (Agile, XP,CMM?) it is based on real world experience and research. Attendees will be better equipped to estimate, plan, develop, test and maintain applications. Attendees will learn effective ways of managing other developers and the development process as a whole.

This entry was posted on July 15, 2009 at 1:37 PM and has received 2515 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

Chaz Chumley - Consultant, Instructor, Author, Husband and Father. Chaz has been specializing in web development and database design since 1995. He currently resides as CIO for w3Consultants, an Internet Application Development & Hosting company as well as an Instructor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas teaching XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, Fireworks, Photoshop and ColdFusion. Chaz is also a contributing author and partner at CommunityMX as well as a User Group Manager for the Las Vegas Adobe User Group and a guest speaker at such conferences as Todcon and CFUnited.

CFUnited session: Building Desktop applications with Coldfusion 8 and AIR

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

I have spoken the past 3 years as well as CFUnited Europe. If you had a choice between conferences, CFUnited is defintiely the best for networking, learning and sharing information with your peers and experts in the industry.

2. Why should people attend your session(s)?

Web designers and developers who are interested in AIR and not the type you breath then feel free to stop by my session. We have lots of fun and being from Las Vegas, end the session rolling a little dice for prizes.

3. Do you have any projects in the works that you will be revealing at CFUnited?

If having fun is a project then...YES.

4. Besides your topic, what other sessions are you looking forward to?

Simon Free is always a blast to listen to. Even if you get nothing out of his sessions you will be leaving in tears. He's is so funny and a great presenter.

5. What are some of the hot topics you'd like to see at RoundTable discussions?

Frameworks, Refactoring and the best one of all... How the hell do I make money doing this?

6. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

All of the above... Regardless of what time it is I am always open to people dragging me out for a drink.

7. What's the latest news with you? Has anything changed since last CFUnited?

What hasn't changed. I have been doing a lot of Open Source development (Drupal, PHP). Wait did I say that

8. What is unique about CFUnited?

Networking. Unlike other conferences where there are too many people. CFUnited always has just the right amount and if you dont leave without having met someone new then you were sleeping the whole time.

9. What do you like to do in your free time?

I coach youth sports. I am coaching my daughters fastpitch softball Allstar team and Pop Warner football.

10. Who are the best conference organizers in the business?

Stellr - Liz and Nafisa and of course Elliott.

This entry was posted on June 12, 2009 at 2:01 PM and has received 3313 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

RJ Owen - Senior Developer at Effective UI. RJ was the lead developer on projects for Dow Jones, Random House and the Discovery Channel and contributed to ebay Desktop and the Adobe Video Workshop. In late 2007 RJ was featured on the Scoble show discussing RIA development and is passionate about the way that software affects and can improve people's lives. He is certified as an Adobe Community expert in Flex and co-authored the O'Reilly shortcut "Flex 3 Early Evaluator." RJ runs a flex blog called A Better Experience at rjria.blogspot.com, holds a degree in Physics and Computer Science, generally does well on standardized tests, and lives in Colorado.

CFUnited session: Flex 4 Components

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

I have never, even once, spoken at CFUnited. Last year I was sworn to silence. I would tell someone, it's okay - you can get through this.

2. Why should people attend your session(s)?

People should attend my session if they want to learn about what's new in Flex 4, or how they can use Flex to build some sweet UI's onto the hearty back-ends they're used to building in CF.

3. Do you have any projects in the works that you will be revealing at CFUnited?

< mysterious >If I did, I most certainly wouldn't reveal them on the internet. You'll just have to come and see for yourself.< /mysterious >

4. Besides your topic, what other sessions are you looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to Jun's session and David Tucker's session. They both know a lot about a lot of things, and I like learning things from people who know them.

5. What are some of the hot topics you'd like to see at RoundTable discussions?

I'd really enjoy listening to two gentlemen (or ladies) diplomatically argue the merits of the multi-party system of government favored in Europe compared to our rather intransigent tradition of only two.

6. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

I will most likely be in the pool, trying to see how long I can hold my breath.

7. What's the latest news with you? Has anything changed since last CFUnited?

Well, Liz, I'm glad you asked. Last week we watched our friends' dog. It's a pretty nice dog, so it went well, generally, but it yipped a lot at night, and I'm a light sleeper, so that was a little rough. You know what, why don't we just catch up at the conference?

8. What is unique about CFUnited?

It's the last great bastion of hope for a dying world in need of a hero. There are a few mediocre bastions around, but you won't find any other great ones. Especially not around WADC.

9. What do you like to do in your free time?

When I'm not working, I like reading, playing video games, and occasionally playing sports in my free time. When I'm working, I prefer to spend my free time playing scrabble over a nice glass of 2% milk.

10. How do you feel about Law and Order?

It is my firm belief that there are too many crime dramas on evening television, but of those crime dramas, Law and Order is pretty good, I guess.

This entry was posted on June 10, 2009 at 3:42 PM and has received 2942 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

Brian Rinaldi - A programmer, Adobe Community Expert, manager of the Boston ColdFusion User Group and organizer of Flex Camps in Boston and Miami. Brian is most well known for his efforts promoting open-source projects in ColdFusion, especially for maintaining the ColdFusion open-source list as well as the weekly updates, both of which you can find via his web site at http://www.remotesynthesis.com.

CFUnited Session: A CF Developer's Guide to the Mate Flex Framework

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

I spoke last year on RIA security, which was a tough topic. I would tell new folks that CFUnited is the biggest and most widely known ColdFusion conference, so it is the best place to network with other ColdFusion developers. The new hotel looks pretty exciting, so I think the opportunities to socialize and network will be even better this year.

2. Why should people attend your session(s)?

I am presenting the Mate framework for Flex this year. Whether you are an experienced Flex programmer who is familiar with Cairngorm or a new Flex developer looking to adopt a framework for your development, Mate is something you should definitely look at. I found that using it not only improved my overall application organization and cleaned up my code, but it improved my enjoyment of Flex coding since it offered tools that simplified development. Mate has been gaining a lot of steam lately and whether you choose to use it or not, its definitely something you should consider or at least be aware if you are doing Flex development. This session will introduce the core Mate concepts for anyone unfamiliar with the framework.

3. Do you have any projects in the works that you will be revealing at CFUnited?

I won't make any promised but I recently set a goal to have a completely reworked Illudium PU-36 Code Generator ready for CFUnited. Its a big undertaking since much of the underlying code needs to be redone to accomplish what I want to do, but with the upcoming releases of Bolt and Centaur, its something that I think should happen. In particular, as was announced earlier today, Bolt plans to offer the ability to tie in custom code generation using CFML, so being able to tie Bolt to Illudium will be a priority.

4. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

I attend conferences purely for the sessions and learning. There is no way you will find me at the bar every evening drinking beer and chatting with attendees. In fact, I promise I will not be closing down the hotel bar, and, despite what you may have heard, I have never done that at any prior conference.

5. What's the latest news with you? Has anything changed since last CFUnited?

Last year I was working for Universal Mind, but was caught in the layoffs earlier this year. This year I have started with a company called Pongo Resume (www.pongoresume.com) building ColdFusion and Flex applications.

6. What is unique about CFUnited?

CFUnited draws the widest variety of ColdFusion developers from around the country. There are sessions that cater towards relative beginners and others that are very advanced. I think the Flex/AIR track is particularly exciting this year as it has brought in well known people from the Flex community and not simple ColdFusion developers doing some Flex. I am looking forward to getting a lot out of the sessions in that track.

7. What do you like to do in your free time?

I own every game system in existence (Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 3, PSP, DS) but I rarely get to play them much unless its with my 6 year old son. Essentially, I own the systems to keep up a charade that I am an avid gamer...which I once was. I also am a big fan of sports, particularly college sports. While I am a University of Miami grad and Hurricane fan, I have season tickets to Boston College football which is walking distance from my home. I also attend many of the local college basketball and hockey games with an occassional professional game of the Celtics or Red Sox when I can afford it.

This entry was posted on June 9, 2009 at 2:58 PM and has received 3940 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.