Andrew Powell

Today we launched the new set of Universal Mind websites:

www.universalmind.com

and

blog.universalmind.com

 

Adam has gone into a great deal about the technical specifics of the new www.universalmind.com, so I will go into the technical specifics of blog.universalmind.com, since I wrote it (skin by Nahuel and Laura).

Previously, the UM Blog Aggregator had been an experiment in combining Hibernate and ColdFusion with Mach-II.  This, over time, proved to be a bit unstable, to say the least.  About a month ago, I took on the initiative to re-write the entire aggregator using Java.  Under the hood, we're still using Hibernate, but we're also using Spring and SpringMVC to manage the transactions and Hibernate sessions a bit better.  One thing you'll probably not notice, but is the coolest to me, is that the post search is now powered by Hibernate Search.  What does this mean?  Well, every time a new post is aggregated and persisted, Hibernate transparently indexes the object and makes it searchable.   It's powerful stuff.  

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the site and please give us some feedback.

Want to see what's going on at WebManiacs?  Want to see if what you were doing got caught on film?  Want to post pictures to the WebManiacs Flickr group?  O?uz Demirkap? has setup a flickr group for WebManiacs 2008.

Just like cf.Objective(), I've created a Flickr Group Viewer app. 

I head out to Webmaniacs tomorrow.  I'm speaking at three sessions:

• Fundamentals of Mach-II
• Flex & Java (Implementing BlazeDS)
• Open Source Flex / CF Panel

I am also trying to organize a trip to a local DC area rock gym.  If you're interested, or know of a good one in the area (Metro accessible), leave a comment.

A few weeks ago, I did an interview with Matt & Peter at ColdFusion Weekly.  It was intended as cf.Objective() preview, but things happen, and it was released last night.  

My Interview

I've been a bit busy since leaving St. Paul, so I've not had the time to collect my thoughts on cf.Objective() until today.  

My initial thoughts are that it was a better show than last year. The content was, again, top notch.  The food and hotel were great, and the people were, as always, the best part.  It was good to meet new faces and reconnect with old friends & people I only know via blog comment conversations.

There were very few sessions that I went to that disappointed me and didn't meet my expectations.  The first highlight, for me, was the coming out party for Mate (http://mate.asfusion.com) & Swiz (http://code.google.com/p/swizframework/).  I think that by this time next year, they will have matured into full fledged alternatives to Cairngorm.  They're both well on their way now.  

The second highlight was the ColdFusion 9 BOF.  It was, without a doubt, the single most rowdy session I've ever attended at a conference (my & Brian's contributions not withstanding).  As much as there were a lot of truer OO functionality pieces asked for, I couldn't help but think:  "Why not learn Java?", but that's another blog post.  The knowledge gap in the room was almost palpable, but I think the "thought leaders" of the CF Community (as someone so eloquently put it in another review) should accept the challenge and step up and help close the gap for those that want to get into hardcore CF development.  How do we do that?  I don't have a damn clue right now, I'm just throwing ideas out.

I'm going to go on record as saying that for both price and quality of content, cf.Objective() is the single best conference for ColdFusion developers, hands down.  There is no competition.  And, yes, I was a shameless shill for my buddies at 360|Flex, the Flex world's equivalent.  

That being said, you sure better know what you're doing with ColdFusion when you walk in the door.  All content can be considered "200 level" and above.  If you're a cfNoob, you'll be way lost and over your head.  Plain and simple.

On to my session.... 

I had a LOT of blank stares in my session, but I kind expected that.  I know the stuff I was doing was going to be way over a lot of people's heads.  I will be posting a comprehensive HOWTO document on setting up Spring & Hibernate with ColdFusion in the next few days.  There are a few people who really got it and even extended it to work with ColdSpring (good job, Joe).   If I confused you, just try to remember to look at ColdFusion (the server) as just another J2EE app and it will be an easier task for you.

That's about all I've got.  Feel free to comment on my session or whatever you like. 

Here is the code/slides for my cf.Objective 2008 presentation: "Enterprise MVC With ColdFusion and Java".  If you are currently sitting in my session, feel free to download the code and follow along.  If you're not in my session right now, still download the code and follow along.

 

Download The Code From My Google Code Site

 

P.S.  Don't forget to come to my BOF tonight on creating & using Open-Source Projects. 

If you're going to cf.Objective this week, and want to see something you've NEVER seen ColdFusion do before, come to my session: "Enterprise Class MVC with ColdFusion And Java".

You will need to know what the MVC pattern is and nothing more. Jason Delmore's session would be a good warmup for this one, but it is not required. Oh yeah, I'll have swag to give out at my session too. I am not above bribery to bring butts into the seats.

Session Description:
This session will show you how to leverage the power of Java tools, like Hibernate, to increase the speed and scalability of your ColdFusion MVC based applications. We will look at performance differences between using Java and ColdFusion based solutions and discuss the benefits and drawbacks to both methods. The discussion will also cover when using such an approach is appropriate and why a developer would want to take this approach. Demos will also be provided to show you how to take advantage of this new technique.

I am also hosting a BOF session on Saturday night entitled: Open Source Development & Publishing. The title is a bit wack, but the premise is simple. Lots of people want to write open-source components, but don't know what it takes to publish them. Conversely, a lot of people want to know what open-source components are available to use in their applications. Well, we'll cover both of these topics and other things such as the various OS licenses available to publish under and how they work together, or with commercially released software. Come, sit down, talk. It'll be fun.

Beyond both of these sessions, I will be hanging around, going to some sessions, and generally catching up with people I've not seen since MAX. Come find me in the hall or lunch, or wherever and I promise I'll make some time to talk with you about ColdFusion, Flex, Java, the Braves, the Red Sox, whatever.

BTW, if you do come to my BOF, someone remember to bring me a bottle of scotch (single malt Islay if you have it, or Johnnie Walker Gold Label if you must bring a blend). I promise you, it will make me much more interesting.

• 
  360Flex Atlanta - 25 Feb - 27 Feb
  
  • Building Java Powered Flex Applications
• 
  cf.Objective() - St. Paul - 1 May - 4 May
  
  • Enterprise MVC with Java & ColdFusion
• Webmaniacs - Washington, D.C. - 19 May - 23 May
  
  • Framework: Fundamentals of Mach II
  • Flex With Java

I tried to upgrade to the full release version of MachBlog and had severe issues which resulted in the flooding of MXNA with old posts. Sorry. In my efforts, I decided to get "creative" and try a plugin I wrote a while back that will rotate the skins that MachBlog uses. It keeps the chosen skin for your entire session. Right now, it only rotates between two different skins, but I may add more in the future. If it gets too damn annoying, I'll just turn it off.

"OO-like" is a phrase that is often overlooked when it comes to CFML and CFCs. A lot of developers like to glance over the "like" part of that expression and make the assertion that CFML, via CFCs, is an OO language. Well, it's not, but that is an easy leap to make. After all, there are a lot of OO-like patterns emerging for use in ColdFusion. When you try to do things with CFML like implementing complex data models with many circular references, ColdFusion, as an engine, has a hard time keeping up. This is no fault of ColdFusion's. It's just people are falling into the trap of expecting all OO practices and methodologies to work perfectly in a non-OO system. Before you get all bent out of shape, even Adobe has said that, "...CFML is not an object-oriented language, and CFCs don't provide all the features and functionality typically provided by OOP languages." This is not necessarily a bad thing. CFCs have accelerated the emergence of the MVC pattern in ColdFusion (Fusebox, Mach-II, ModelGlue, etc). Those MVC frameworks can still be leveraged to build powerful applications that are "OO-like" in their patterns, but at the end of the day, not truly OO applications. Sure, there are ORM and AOP/IOC frameworks available for ColdFusion that have their roots in an OO language. Aren't these really just a stepping stone on the way to learning Java though? If you are an advanced enough developer to understand how to properly use frameworks like Transfer, Reactor, ColdSpring, and other frameworks that, like these, have their roots in Java, shouldn't you be looking at developing parts (services, gateways, daos, vo's) of your application in Java anyway? Adobe has made great strides, though, in accomodating more OO features (interfaces, etc) with the latest release of ColdFusion 8. At the end of the day, in my mind, what holds CF back from becoming a truly OO language is also what makes it so appealing. Ever since the introduction of CFCs, there has been the option to use them or not use them. Meaning that you can still code in a CF5 style, if you wish. This, in my opinion, has always been simultaneously, CFML's greatest strength and greatest weakness. I am not saying that you can't use OO patterns within CFML. Just don't expect it to perform 100% like a OO language will. After all, CFML is OO-like, not purely OO. Besides, to quote Adobe again... "CFCs allow, and even encourage, the creation of structured applications." That, after all, is a good starting point for your applications, isn't it?