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cf.Objective Afterthoughts

May 7, 2007 · 12 Comments

First off, it was an awesome conference for no other reason than I got to meet a whole bunch of people I know only by their blog, or blog comments. Second, I now get the allure of a Twitter back channel. (Even if it annoys some of the people on my Twitter list who aren't ColdFusion geeks.) Third, I haven't been this mentally stimulated by a work related conference, like ever.

This conference was awesome for the sheer access it gives attendees to the people who are leading our niche of web development. There's something very convincing about Mark Mandel advocating Transfer, or Joe Rinehart showing off Model-Glue:Flex. And there's something really entertaining about watching Mark Drew curse and compile his way through preparation for a CfEclipse demo.

But the biggest thought going through my head now is "What do I do, now that I know everything I do is wrong?" Granted that's an exaggeration of the truth, but it's certainly the feeling I have. But a more productive version of this question is "How do I introduce all of these great techniques into my regular work?"

Here's my list:

  • Start using Coldspring
  • Start using an ORM
  • Start using a real framework
  • Stop thinking about objects in terms of data
  • Start doing development on my local machine
  • Stop spreading rumors that the man saying he is Sean Corfield has the real Sean Corfield tied up in his hotel room.

That's a pretty tall order. Of course the smart thing to do would be to accept that there is no way that I can do all of this and therefore not try any of it. (Hold off that on that comment... I'm not just done yet.) So that's not a good attitude, but it isn't an uncommon one either.

I think the actually smart thing to do would be to accept that it's possible that I wouldn't implement all of these any time soon. However, I'm going to try and implement some of these things in bits and pieces where they make these most sense over the next few months.

I've already got a virtual server running a complete development environment, and I maintain that I never saw the real Sean Corfield this weekend...

Oh well, at least I managed to cross one of those off my list.

Tags: Web Development · ColdFusion

12 response s so far ↓

  • 1 Randy // May 8, 2007 at 8:14 AM

    Hello,

    I copied and pasted your list. It is exactly what I have been thinking for quite some time. I wasn't able to attend the conference unfortunately.

    I am curious as to why you do not have Coldspring under the real frameworks? I have not done enough research yet, but I thought Coldspring would be listed under the real frameworks?

    Thanks!

    Randy

  • 2 Terrence Ryan // May 8, 2007 at 10:14 AM

    @Randy - Sorry for the confusion. It wasn't meant as an insult to ColdSpring. Coldspring is a framework, but it exists at a separate layer independent of the interface framework. In fact ModelGlue includes it. So I should have further clarified that I mean I should use a real interface framework.

  • 3 Dan Wilson // May 8, 2007 at 10:24 AM

    Terrance,

    It was good to meet you at cf.objective(). I am always glad to put names with faces.


    Dan Wilson

  • 4 Terrence Ryan // May 8, 2007 at 10:33 AM

    @Dan right back at you.

  • 5 Randy // May 8, 2007 at 2:20 PM

    No worries, I didn't know the difference between the two so I was curious :-)

    Model Glue includes the Coldspring Framework?

    -Randy

  • 6 nick // May 8, 2007 at 10:43 PM

    Couldn't agree with you more... this was my first CF conference and a great opportunity to meet other developers, if nothing else. Thanks for letting me tag along with you and Dave.

  • 7 Terrence Ryan // May 9, 2007 at 8:34 AM

    @Nick, who was tagging along? We all had a great time together.

  • 8 Terrence Ryan // May 9, 2007 at 10:47 AM

    @Randy: Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if it actually includes it. I know that it has hooks for coldspring and reactor that make some cool scaffolding stuff happen. But I know the "unity" in ModelGlue 2 was about combining all three into one uber framework.

  • 9 DK // May 9, 2007 at 11:48 AM

    Terrence,
    there is a really good mg:u presentation by Stephen 'cutter' Blades to the nashville CFUG. When I first started with Unity I read all of Dan's tutorials then watched this presso. Things really started clicking at that point on a better way to do things. I think I'm in the same boat as you :)

    Anyhow nashville cfug site:
    http://www.ncfug.com/

    Direct Presso Link:
    http://mmusergroup.adobe.acrobat.com/p45277812/

  • 10 Sean Corfield // May 9, 2007 at 10:31 PM

    The imaginary Sean Corfield enjoyed meeting you. The real Sean Corfield isn't available for comment right now... Hard to talk with a gag in your mouth, isn't it?... Oh, stop squirming, those ropes aren't coming undone any time soon. And now, back to my cunning master plan...

  • 11 Terrence Ryan // May 9, 2007 at 11:01 PM

    I KNEW IT!

  • 12 Terrence Ryan // May 11, 2007 at 12:20 AM

    @DK. Thanks for the links.

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