Tonight I went through and made some changes on the server. We were having some issues with the setup and so I reconstructed the server from the ground up... If you run into any issues, please let me know so I can correct it!

Simply drop me an email and let me know!

More new changes coming soon; please stay tuned!

EasyCFM.COM has changed the way ColdFusion authors get compensated for their work, in the past we would hold contests and sweepstakes and if your tutorial won you would get a prize! We understand that as rewarding and exciting as this is; most people love to get paid for their work (even when they are helping others) no matter what!

With this in mind, we have created a new system to compensate authors posting their work on our site. Every tutorial you post will pay you out real money (based on a few different criterias):

1. Length of your tutorial - By length we mean how many words exist in the tutorial, how much explanation do you put into it, do you really drive the user to understand your topic, etc. We're looking for the best authors out there, that can provide good explanations of how to do things with ColdFusion, so get creative, explain it in full detail and get paid more money!
2. Quality of your work - We provide bonuses (after-the fact) to the most successful tutorials posted on the site. (and you can get more then one for a single tutorial... so you can continue to make money even after the tutorial has been on the site for a long time!) The bonus structure is based on feedback from our community, popularity of your tutorial, visitor ratings & feedback, etc). We will track it and then add money to your account instantly for providing high quality work!

So start making some money today, upload your fresh tutorial content and together we'll make EasyCFM.COM bigger and better; but more importantly; get some cash in your pocket!

New, bigger and better things are coming on EasyCFM.COM.... here's a taste of what we've done so far!

I wanted to announce some changes done recently to EasyCFM.COM. These changes were done at the requests of our community using Firefox (mostly) and to go back to our original style designs. (People said they missed the "reddish" colors).

Here is a list of items that were recently changed.

• Forum was modified to display color scheme in firefox. Previously it would not keep the same look at Internet Explorer. This was due to a bug in the original forum software. I went through and modified all the code to correct the issue.
• Corrected the layout of all the pages throughout the site to ensure that the intended design was consistent throughout all browsers.
• Modified the site logo to keep a constant link to our twitter account (Tweet!!).
• Changed the site-wide stylesheet design and color schemes to the original colors, bye bye blue! Woo Hoo!
• Modified the menu for the site (top area) to be CFMENU driven to take advantage of newer better built-in ColdFusion technology. Look for new areas to be developed on the site; so we can continue to add to the menu!

If you have any additional suggestions or would like to see anything else added/modified.... please let me know! After all it's all about our community! You make this site the success it is, we never forget that!

More great things to come!

I wanted to post a quick post that I will be working on a set of tutorials that deal with user interfaces (design, usability, etc) that can all be achieved with ColdFusion. the first tutorial will deal with CFMENU. That tutorial can be seen here: ColdFusion User Interfaces - Series (CFMENU).

I will be also working on some additional tutorials to demonstrate the ease of use to deploy some powerful sites.... more to come on that... Chek out the tutorial and let me know what you think!

You know, I read books on ColdFusion all the time (I fly a lot) to stay up to par with things, but mostly to get different perspectives on how people see and use ColdFusion in their own lives. We all have our own perspective and uses; and I like to see how others use it and/or teach it.. (the teach it part intrigues me, because I teach it too.. so i do my best to learn from others and see what works and what doesn't so I can do it better myself).

Recently, I got my hands on a copy of John Farrar's [ColdFusion 8 Developer Tutorial] and I have to say.. I think it's clearly written...it covers a broad range of subjects, but I think what I like the most is that it goes above and beyond most books. He clearly focuses on the readers and does everything possible to get you to get it... (if that makes sense).

I am not one to recommend books, I think tutorials and "demonstrations" work better when it comes to learning things, but I think that this book can teach people quite a bit and really get them to understand and master the coding logic that is needed to become a good developer.

If you have yet to read this book, I suggest you pick up a copy.. It's not only worth the cash.. but will also be a good reference later on.. Lots of Ajax in there too.. which I haven't seen in many other books (other than WACK... but that is another story!).

Overall, I would give this book a 4.5 (out of 5 stars) because it delivers a good range of topics, clear communication, and most importantly it helps with next steps!

Great Job John!
Keep them coming!

Keep in mind that nothing has changed; but today I started getting this.... I've got all the updates and hot fixes installed... so losing hair as it wont cooperate :)

Any ideas?

Here is the error it gives me:

The system has attempted to use an undefined value, which usually indicates a programming error, either in your code or some system code.

Null Pointers are another name for undefined values.


93 : password="#trim(Arguments.ftpPassword)#"
94 : localfile="#trim(Arguments.fileToFTP)#"
95 : remotefile="#trim(Arguments.ftpRemotePath)##trim(Arguments.ftpRemoteFileName)#"
96 : timeout="5000"
97 : transfermode="binary" />

ColdFusion Version 8.01
Enterprise Edition.

First off I thought the title would intrigue you... But let me say that it's so far from the truth that literraly it's amusing!

I have been doing ColdFusion for going on 12 years (really shows my age; man I am getting old) now... and I hear the "CF is DYING" or "CF is DEAD" comment like every other 10 minutes... It's not only ammusing at times; it's plain old ignorant!

I love to get into debates with students, people learning at EasyCFM.COM or even at User Groups about the topic; and you know what I find everytime? The people that make the comments have no clue; and can't take constructive critism well... It's like I am in the school playground and you just can't get through to these "trouble kids".

With that being said; I want to point out a few things for people reading this. Now sure someone can say CF is your preffered development choice and that is why you fel that way; but that is just not true.

Prefered choice is one thing; best tool for the job is another. When a client (be it web or corporate or goverment) comes to you and spec's out a particular project for development, that client could care less what you write it in; what they care about is two things:

1. How long?
2. How Much?

Now, if the client does not have "CF licenses" and you choose to use ColdFusion for that project; the how much includes the license fees. Free, is not always free... they [the client] will pay for it in the development and project lifecycle; so even if they don't spend say $10,000 in a license; they will still spend the $10,000 sticker elsewhere. (Note: If they can't or dont want a license; consider a managed server.. usually a few hundred dollars a month gets you a CF license (usually enterprise) at most hosting companies, so what is the problem?) And I know people will say; shouldn't the developer make it instead of the license fees? That is a matter of business logic, and individual honesty. Sure; we all want to make more money; but shouldn't honesty to your client be more important? Shouldn't providing the best route (for the client, not you) be the route suggested? I tend to think so!

(This usually ends up making you more money in the long run anyways with referrals and repeated business).

I have built hundreds (sometimes it feels like thousands :) ) of applications [Some Enterprise level, some not]. Some in C# (both for the web and as stand-alone ditributable applications), Some in JSP, some in CF, some in othe languages (anyone remember htmlOS?) and to be honest; a language is just that... a language..

It's the person who speaks that language that makes it what it is. I speak 3 languges (you know this; if you read my 25 things about me post) and I cannot say Spanish is better then English or Italian is better than English.. Each one has its place; when in Rome guess what? Italian is better... when in California; English (or in some cases spanish) is better.... So naturally the same is ported over to the programming language arena. Or at least, it should be!

Let's go back to say 1998, when flash got really really popular and you would see fully developed flash website (which cheesy animations and unusable content).... In those days; doing this was considered tacky and very unprofessional. Today with Flex; that is not only the NORM; but it's encouraged. But why? because technology got better; the ability to streamline data to the flash interface is easier and mor seemless; therefore making the "user experience" better.

Life is about timing; knowledge; and plain ol' salt. Salt? WTF?!?

In life; you need to take everything with a grain of salt (at least I think so)... When you read posts like Aral Balkan's (CF is dead) post; or Steven Errat's (CF is NOT Dead) Post ; or even this post; you have to read them and take them in with a grain of salt... Because you have to inform yourself; then make a judement on to what is best for you with seeing all of the pictures in the bulleting board; not just the one someone wants you to see.

What is better... what is not better? Is too "general" and high level of a question; without knowing the situation; it's useless... A better question would be:

What is better for my task as hand (my project, my client, etc.)? That is the question no one ever touches when they say CF is dead... better for what... you (the developer), them (the client)

In my years (over a decade now) of teaching programming (I teach PHP, Java, C# and CF) (both in seminars, classes and universities) I can tell you that CF can compare to any other language out there... It can deploy .NET, Java, CFML, and more... but let's forget that for a second; and look at the other reason why ColdFusion is not DEAD or dying...

I hear this one often; it's too expensive! First off; I have said this before; but the price sticker on ColdFusion is not expensive for a company. If you're company cannot fork over at least a professional license; then you should start asking can they pay my next paycheck... But that aside; Railo anyone? If FREE is too expensive; then you have issues....

Next I hear; CF developers are not real programmers; they are scripting (or tagging) kiddies... So I asked myself; let's prove it.

So I began the language test with some univesity students. I gave 8 students (2 using JSP, 2 using .NET, 2 using PHP, 2 using CF) the task of building a fully working; tested application (I selected the application; in thise case it was the dreaded "Address book" application) and the one's that got it working quicker an could support a lot of traffic (using a stress tool - Mercury) would win the prize.

Now; putting this in perspective yes the CF team did it quicker; followed by the PHP developers, then the C# developers and then the JSP developers. I put them all through Mercury; and all 4 of them withstood the stress test of 5,000 concurent users. Sure that is not a lot when you compare it to Twitter or MySpace or whatever; but it goes to show that it can work (correctly) under presure. All other aspects were the same (same OS, Same DB backend, the only thing that was different was the language they used) and they all behaved accordingly. But this takes me back to the "How Long?" and "How Much?" questions clients asked.

CF Developer Team - 3 weeks
PHP Team - 4.5 Weeks
.NET Team - 5 Weeks
JSP Team - 5 Weeks and one day.

The CF Team even created a partial Flex front end that invoked their web services (since all they had to do was switch a setting on the CFC to enable web services) as extra credit. The other teams didnt have time; and came in just under the gun (deadline was 6 weeks).

When I spoke to the developer teams individually; they all said that this was a great excercise because they are seeing (unbiasedly - is that even a word?) that each situation has it's place... CF was just better here; in this case and point.

Take this to the next level and build something like YouTube...Would CF be the best route to build something to that scale? Probably not because of a few reasons; however; could it be used? Sure look at a site i built in less then a day: ColdFusion.TV; but it required me to use third party applications to handle the video compression, etc. But keep in mind I said I wrote this in a day. (Not weeks, months or even a year, but a single day).

Does it have all the bells a whisltes of a YouTube? No; it was just a day; does it have full capabilities to upload videos of any format; conversion to FLV (flash video) the ability to play and place it on your own site (like YouTube) yes it does! And all that in just one day! What else could you do? With more time?

Going back to YouTube; writing this in JSP or C# would be better because you can get to a more granular level and control the file conversions more powerfully; then you ever could in CF... so does CF fit every mold? No, it doesnt. Does this mean it's dying? I think not! In layman's terms:

"If you have a screw, a hammer might not be the best tool.. but if you have a nail; then start hammering!"

Lastly, let's leave you with one last piece of information.

ColdFusion 8; when used correctly can work perfect and seemlesslesy (especially in a 64-bit environment). To the same standards that a PHP system, C# system could. Don't blame the technology; because you have met some people that didnt know what they were doing and we're dangerous enough to build something that didnt work!

If you are a developer starting out; don't leave ColdFusion out of your "things to learn" just because you read a post on someone's blog that says its dying.. If you do your thorough research and still dont want to learn it; then that's cool... Can't know every language perfectly; so find the language [or languages] you feel confident with and run with it [them].

Hopefully it's ColdFusion... But I It's something like C#, PHP or JSP (or more graphic userface related (i.e. Flash, AIR, etc) then that's cool too...) We need all kinds of people with all kinds of knowledge to make the web what it is... If we ll did the same thing; that was is the point!

Together we can all make it better by challenging ourselves; and most of all the technologies we use.

With my book length post (sorry); I leave you with this. Coldfusion is NOT dying; it's just getting started.

Your thoughts? Let me hear them!

I was asked on my facebook profile; by a friend to put up 25 random things about me; so she could get to know me better. I thought about it some time and came up with the following random things. Hopefully this gets you to know me better; it's a few random "facts" about me....

So thinking it through; here are somethings people might not know about me...

1. I have only broken a bone once in my life (knock on wood); it happenned as a kid swinging from the mokey bars... The cast itch bad... hated it!
2. I have been married 3 times in my life.
3. I was first married at the age of 17 (my wife was 16); we were both still in High School. tsk tsk.. i know!
4. I have 6 children (3 natural) - (3 step children) all 6 are now my children. I love them all very much! (4 Girls, 2 Boys). (not sure about those I dont know about.. I was a wild child; what can I say).
5. I have 6 pets (naturally) one for each kid. (4 dogs and 2 cats).
6. I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina; but was raised in Miami Beach (South Beach) Florida; so I consider myself more American; then Argentinian.. Sorry Dad :)
7. I have been in a car crash once in my life... It happenned in Dallas and was pretty bad; but thankfully I didnt get hurt!
8. I love to sky dive (17 jumps under my belt).
9. I speak three "spoken" languages (English, Spanish, Italian) and understand (9 languages) just not fully to the point of a full blown conversation; but can undertand it enough to follow.
10. I speak multiple programming languages such as COBOL, BASIC, QBASIC, C++, C, .NET (C#/VB), ColdFusion, Java, JavaScript, ActionScript... and the list goes on.. I'm a geek I know! hehe
11. My career in the technology field began as a graphic design artist; not a programmer.
12. I am not shy in anyway; I am one of those people that will walk up to anyone at anytime and begin a conversation!
13. I am a cell phone junkie... I get a new cell phone usually monthly because I get bored with the old phones. (can I trade in my blackberry in now?)
14. I have lived in 2 states the majority of my life. Florida and Texas. (but also have lived in Washington DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and California)
15. I had a girlfriend in Kindergarden (in Argentina) and it was the first time I kissed a girl :) (told ya, wild child)
16. One of my passions in life is technology, the other is music (my father is a muscian/singer, my mother is a singer).
17. I look like an exact xerox copy of my father... it's true; and I am proud of it :)
18. I made my first million at the age of 21; I invested all my money into my kids future.
19. I have 5 Tattoos. (One on my leg, one on my right arm (upper) two on my left arm (upper and lower) and one on my back.)
20. I have traveled to 5 continents in my life. working on the other ones!
21. I love to cook and am pretty good at it... Since I was raised in a restaurant (my father always had restaurants growing up) I got my father to thank for that.
22. My best friend growing up was the son of a very famous actor. So I am not phased or in awe of celebrities.
23. I love music; but not artists or bands. By this I mean I love all kinds of music (from Country to Jazz to Rap) but could care less about the musicians life, troubles, relationships, or addictions...
24. I hate reality TV... I think it loses it's reality when a camera gets involved. No exceptions, ever!
25. I think MTV sucks.... it began to suck when the music stopped playing! And yes, I think it killed the radio star! hehe
26. (bonus) - I love what I do for a living (though it's stressfull and challenging to say the least) knowing that things I do enable people to get jobs and support their families is probably the greatest feeling you can get from you job.

So tell me about you... use the comment below... I'd love to get to know my visitors better... let's hear it!

Having attended many conferences; I always like to ask and find out why people go to them... some go for networking, some to learn new ways to do new things and some just to get out of work (you know who you are :) ) So why are you going? Be honest! :)