Ajas, you're trying to draw me into answering your first 2 questions, which
as you note I did not in my original reply. :-)  I don't want to try to get
into that debate, to be honest. I don't think there are clear answers. And I
think we need to have much more info about the place where you're asking if
a CFML person could be an architect. I think in some places, they could be,
even without OO experience. Certainly in others, they'd have to have it, and
in still others, even such experience might be ignored if they also showed
CF experience in the bulk of their resume. You can't win all the battles out
there. 
 
I will say that it certainly wouldn't hurt for a CFML developer to learn
more about OO and Java. But there are many (MANY) who still never have and
who make a comfortable living. Could they do their jobs better with greater
understanding of software engineering principles? Sure. Is it necessary, not
in most cases.
 
The beauty of learning Java (over C#) is that you can so closely integrate
the two in CFML today. Again, this is something I've written and spoken
about a lot (as have others). I'll point you to a May 2005 CFDJ article,
"Getting Started Integrating CFML with Java & .NET":
 
http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/read/86127.htm
 
There I make the case and point out other resources about CFML/Java
integration (and there are many, far more complete than mine). You may note
in the title that I also point out integration with .NET (and by implication
C#). That's easiest with BlueDragon.NET right now but Scorpio (CF8) will
also offer the ability to call .NET objects.  My point with all this
addresses your last question to me below, "Do you think switching
technologies is a good idea?"). It need not be an either/or proposition (CF
vs Java/C#). You can "eat your cake and have it too" (which is not only the
original form of the phrase, but also the more logical form).
 
/Charlie
http://www.carehart.org/blog/  

 

  _____  

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ajas Mohammed
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 12:21 PM
To: discussion@acfug.org
Subject: Re: [ACFUG Discuss] CF. Object oriented & its future. General
Questions.



Hi Charlie,
                   Thanks for the reply. It really helped a lot. In your
reply you mentioned,



As for learning more about OO development in Java, if you're new to that, I
recommend Jacquie Barker's "Beginning Java Objects". Most Java books presume
you already understand OO (in my opinion) and hers was one of the first to
walk you through it gently (and without requiring too much understanding of
Java, either). In that regard, it can be useful even for CFML folks looking
to expand their understanding.


Do you think as a CF developer who plans to become Lead/Architect, learning
java or Java objects might help. What I am trying to ask is, if  a person
spends lets say 5 years of his experience in CF, is he good enough to be an
architect or does he needs to have Java experience also to add weight for
him to be considered for Architect./Lead position?? 

My main concern is that do I need to learn C#/Java. Lets say after 5 years
of experience CF, I shouldnt feel that I should have tried C#/Java instead
of just sticking to CF. Best way to avoid this would be to learn something
now, instead of waiting for a switch later and I know its gonna be too late
if I do it after 4-5 years. 

Any suggestions... Do you think switching technologies is a good idea??

Anyone with answers to question 1 & 2 i.e.
1. My question is do you guys see potential in CF that a person can after
some years of experience treated as Lead or Architect. 

2.Also do we have architects here in this group based of CF experience only?


Ajas.



On 12/26/06, Charlie Arehart <  <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 

Ajas, I'm sure others will have much more to say, but I want to quickly
resolve your fears and concerns b y pointing out that yes, indeed, CFCs are
the way in which CFML enables more object-like development. No, I won't call
it object-oriented as some will contend with that specific term, but an
affirmative answer for your last questions is a sign of how far CFML has
evolved since its being labeled early on (and being still regarded by many)
as "just a tag-based scripting language".
 
To your question 3, yes, by using CFCs your CFML applications can "have
classes and stuff like that". CFCs can be thought of as classes, with
methods and properties, and even inheritance. Pretty much whatever you learn
in any resource on object-based development will apply to CFML--but I will
point out as well that there are indeed many folks who use CFCs and never
apply them in a real OO way. Your example of using them for web services is
one of them. Another is their use as effectively buckets of what would be
called "static" methods--they don't try to persist (or rely on persistence
of) any sort of state data. There's nothing wrong with that, and it's
clearly "a" form of reuse, but it's not really on par with what you'll
read/learn about regarding true OO-style programming.
 

I'll let others point out what they think are good resources to learn and
apply CFCs in a more OO way. As for learning more about OO development in
Java, if you're new to that, I recommend Jacquie Barker's "Beginning Java
Objects". Most Java books presume you already understand OO (in my opinion)
and hers was one of the first to walk you through it gently (and without
requiring too much understanding of Java, either). In that regard, it can be
useful even for CFML folks looking to expand their understanding. 
 
The same dilemma will apply to some resources out there that discuss using
CFCs in a more OO-like way: they presume you already understand the "why"
and focus instead on the "how", or on implementation using some specific
style or pattern, again presuming you understand patterns. For that, I'll
recommend Shalloway's "Design Patterns Explained". 
 
All this is about the evolution of a CFML developer to greater levels of
software engineering appreciation. Going to your earlier points, I don't
think it's NECESSARY for a CFML developer to learn them, but it will
certainly help for some work and some projects, and will over time improve
all projects one works on. It's very much a mind-shift. In fact, in 2001 I
wrote about why I thought it would be very challenging for some to make the
transition. At the time, I was writing on the transition to J2EE, but it's
really as much about the transition to OO. You may find it helpful:
http://jdj.sys-con.com/read/36679.htm
 
To your question 4, yes, CFCs can be represented as being in packages.
Indeed, there is an ACCESS attribute of CFFUNCTION (the way to define
methods in CFCs) which is corollary to the access modifier in Java, and it
supports public, private, and package, to name a few.
 
To your question 5, there is indeed an API tool. In CFMX you can browse a
CFC (literally, just browse the CFC name as if it was a URL) and CF will
present an API interface showing the properties, methods, and more. You do
need to have the RDS (not Admin) password to access that, and that's been a
show-stopper for many. I wrote a blog entry in 2003 showing how to disable
or alter that, if appropriate for your environment:
 
http://cfmxplus.blogspot.com/2003/02/how-to-stop-requiring-rds-password-for.
html
 
 
/Charlie
http://www.carehart.org/blog/  



 


  _____  

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ] 
On
Behalf Of Ajas Mohammed
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 8:28 AM
To: discussion@acfug.org
Subject: [ACFUG Discuss] CF. Object oriented & its future. General
Questions.



Hi,
    I am a CF developer and I had discussion with one of my friends and he
said if you want to be architect or lead, you need to have understanding of
objects/classes like how they used in java. He said you are going no where
and need to switch the technology if you want to earn good money. The reason
I have asked this question is because many non-CF developers or architects
think that CF just tag based and they dont give respect to CF. 

1. My question is do you guys see potential in CF that a person can after
some years of experience treated as Lead or Architect. 

2.Also do we have architects here in this group based of CF experience only?


3. We do only web development and we havent used CFC's except for one place
where we use it as webservice. How would someone compare CF OO programming
with something like java maybe. Can we have CF applications have classes and
stuff like that. If yes then what would be a good starting point to learn &
implement in that style ( i.e. reusability).

4. Can we have packages in CF?

5. Is there a documentation tool in CF like JavaDoc tool in java which
creates documentation?

I am so confused right now. Your suggestions are needed. 

Thanks in advance..

Ajas Mohammed.






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