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.

I've known Vilas for a number of years.  He used to think he wanted to be a pharmacist, but has recently embraced his inner developer and started getting really heavy into Flex.  He came to ColdFusion a few years ago and has really taken to it quite well.  His blog is mostly Flex related, with some ColdFusion mixed in.  One more thing... if you are looking for a contract developer, I know he has recently started contracting as well, so give him a ring.

 Vilas's Blog - http://blog.vilasophy.com/

I get asked a lot:  "What is the best book for learning 'x'?".  Well, I decided that I would post my own bookshelf, a listing of all the books I personally own (tech related).  You can browse through the listing, and, if you like, purchase the book from Amazon.

My Bookshelf

A lot of people have become experts on tuning the JVM (memory allotment and garbage collection) for ColdFusion 6 & 7. The game has changed with ColdFusion 8 because, prior to CF8, the JVM used was Java 1.4.2. ColdFusion 8 introduced the next evolution of the JVM, Java 6 (a.k.a. Java 1.6). This new JVM brings a slew of new garbage collection (GC) options that come from not only Java 6, but Java 5 as well. Remember, we're skipping a version of the JVM from where we were with the MX generation.

An important change is in the default selections of options. On a server (defined as 2 or more physical processors and 2 or more GB of physical memory) the following options are defaulted:

• Throughput garbage collector
• Heap sizes
• initial heap size of 1/64 of physical memory up to 1Gbyte
• maximum heap size of ¼ of physical memory up to 1Gbyte
• Server runtime compiler

These attempts to default settings to optimal conditions are referred to as "ergonomics". Ergonomics in the 5.0 JVM.

If you are interested in getting into the nitty gritty of JVM tuning, Sun has made these documents available:

Java SE 6 HotSpot VM GC Tuning

Well, it looks like MXNA is down for the count... Or at least a good while.

While you're waiting for it to come back to life, check out these alternate aggregators:

fullasagoog

feed-squirrel