As a former CF instructor, I have gotten the same type of questions before. I will intersperse my answers below.
BTW: Not to be picky, but ColdFusion is one word (started back on Version 3) and has officially been branded that way for a while now. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Shirley Cooper Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 5:47 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Cold Fusion Research I am currently conducting training in Cold Fusion and wanted to do some research to help my student? 1) If you are a hiring manager, what do you look for when filing a cold fusion position? Well obviously, if I am going to hire a CF programmer, they must know something about the language and HOW TO APPLY IT. I have hired CF programmers before, and I do not believe in the trick tests people try to throw at candidates. I have seen very good coders who did not know how to apply the language. I do not think it is as important to know every attribute of every tag, or even every tag itself, as it is to know how to go find what you need and then apply it to a solution. To me that goes beyond any specific language. I am not as concerned that you are the worlds best Java programmer only that you know how and why to apply the various techniques of the langauge(s). 2) What do you need to know before trying to learn Cold Fusion? You need to know at least the rudimentary HTML commands and in particular how to use the table tags. You also need at least a basic understanding of SQL. I also think you need some skills in understanding and applying basic logic and programming techniques. You do not have to be a master of any of these to learn. 3) What do you find as the best way to learn Cold Fusion? I think taking the classes is definitely a good way. Beyond that there are some good books about ColdFusion. The Forta books have always been my main stay but especially since version 4, the documentation has been very good. I also always keep the pocket guides handy. However, there is not substitute for writing code. If you have to, make up a site that needs some dynamic content and go for it. Even if you never deploy it anywhere, the practice is good. I also need to put in a plug for the ColdFusion User Groups. I find that just reading the posts and their answers on news groups/list servers can be very educational. As with anything else, practice makes perfect - well at least it makes you better. 4) What is most important when learning Cold Fusion? Learning how and when to apply the language. ColdFusion (or any other language for that matter) will not be the best tool for every task. Learn the constructs of the language and how to apply them to a problem and keep expanding on that. First learn the basics; how to display a table using ColdFusion, then how to extract data from a database and build the table dynamically, learn how to use the looping commands, how and when to use custom tags, and finally how and when to use the various variable scopes. 5) How important is it to know server information if you are only going to be using Cold Fusion Studio? Studio is a great IDE, but every program you are going to write will have to interact with the server in some fashion. You do not have to know all the ins and outs of managing the server, but you will at least have to know how to set up and manage data sources, how to manage mappings, and how to look at logs to help you analyze problems (something is always going to go wrong and you need to know how to track it down). 6) How long did it take for you to really know Cold Fusion? Define "really know ColdFusion". Since I did not program on a daily basis, it took me a little longer than some others may profess but I think you should minimally expect it to take a year. First off, it is probably going to take you that long to run into the "odd stuff" that you do not deal with daily. Secondly, ColdFusion is evolving itself. The transition form "really knowing" CF 5 versus CF MX adds another dimension to the fray. There are a whole bunch of new things that everyone is going to struggle with for a while because it is new. Thirdly, I think if you monitor lists such as this one, you will see that no one knows it all. Everyone is stumped or tripped up at some time. The key is knowing where and how to go about finding answers. Any other relating information would be much appreciated!! Bottom line to me is that ColdFusion is much easier to learn than some other languages (syntactically). However at times that ease can be a detriment if you do not earn how to apply good programming techniques. Every shop needs to have a methodology or coding conventions that they follow. I think it is important to develop good structured habits. Coding conventions such as FuseBox (which I am not a big fan of) are not as important themselves as it is to have a discipline that lends itself to ease in code maintenance and understanding. You can write spaghetti code that is very efficient and makes sense to the programmer at the time but without discipline in applying coding conventions, you (or someone else) will come along later and have a very difficult time understanding and/or maintaining the code. Thanks, Shirley ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - This email server is running an evaluation copy of the MailShield anti- spam software. Please contact your email administrator if you have any questions about this message. 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