Andrew Powell

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.