> I just wanted to try and gauge where I'm at right now in > terms of programming prowess by having everyone offer > their experience with programming in general and CF. What > most of you do is pretty amazing to me, so I'd like to > know where I stand and what I need to do to get more like > you guys!
> Me - 2 years programming - 2 years CF Programming in general since roughly... 83... You probably shouldn't count that -- my folks sent me to a private school and my dad was working for TI at the time who donated a number of their computers to the school where we were taught some basic programming in LOGO in 3rd grade. It's not so much "programming experience" as it is simply having had exposure from a very early age at a time when exposure to computers at an early age wasn't commonplace like it is now with Disney and Sesame Street (iirc Children's Entertainment Network) branded "learning" video games. Several subsequent grade-school and high-school classes which covered GW Basic and Pascal. HTML/JavaScript since 1994, CF/CSS since 1998. To be honest most of my JavaScript skills have been acquired more recently -- I was never fond of it until a few years ago. Flash in the last 2-3 years. XML -- depends on your definition. IIRC I was using WDDX with CF 4. Don't remember when that was exactly... though I was a bit slow to adopt CFMX and the new XML features in it -- less out of a lack of interest than simply being busy with other things and having a lack of need for XML. I've picked up XSL transformations just in the past month or so and while I'm no expert, I still think XSL has some "growing up" to do. It has great potential, but some things like case-sensitivity are just not well thought out (attribute values, not the names of elements and attributes -- i.e. type="Hidden" is not the same as type="hidden" when you're trying to update some legacy html and the only work-arounds are clunky as of yet). Attributes can be selectively coppied easily enough, but selectively _removing_ an attribute during a translation afaik has no easy solution. But now I'm getting off on a tangent. :) Java -- I'd only read about it until CFMX -- some years back before I learned ColdFusion I tought myself enough C++ that I could create and navigate "linked lists" with it -- a concept which is generally outmoded now by the advent of readily accessible database access. I was able to muddle my way through the creation of a small command-line driven (DOS) application at the time, but never could figure out how the connection to the interface in Windows applications really worked. Which may have a lot to do with my having been handcuffed by having only an outdated version of MicroSoft Visual C++ to work with (as opposed to something like a later version of Borland C++ Builder). I nearly learned Delphi for the purpose of creating desktop applications -- and there are times even now that I think it might be nice to be able to build a desktop app, although Java still doesn't have the shallow learning curve of CF for creating cross-platform desktop apps, .NET is obviously not cross-platform, and even if I had a good high-level cross-platform desktop language to build in, I'm not sure I'd ever find or make the time to actually learn it to create desktop apps. BlueDragon might actually be that solution (CFML for the desktop -- they do it from CD, why not?) -- but I've been too busy to really investigate it. But again I digress. My knowledge / experience with OO is more theoretical than experiential. I am an OO proponent, just not a zealot. When I first started learning ColdFusion a lot of the things I worked on with it in my spare time were attempts to reclaim some of the more useful things I'd learned about OO from teaching myself C++, which ultimately culminated in my creating an OO implementation in CF for a content management application I was trying to sell which no-one ever bought (or used) and then worked its way back around to my developing the onTap framework for free as a result of some of the more innovative features of the CMS which actually were not OO features oddly enough. :) anyway, I'm rambling and really should be getting back to work :) s. isaac dealey 954.522.6080 new epoch : isn't it time for a change? add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework http://macromedia.breezecentral.com/p49777853/ http://www.sys-con.com/story/?storyid=48229&DE=1 http://www.sys-con.com/story/?storyid=44477&DE=1 http://www.sys-con.com/story/?storyid=45569&DE=1 http://www.sys-con.com/story/?storyid=48229&DE=1 http://www.fusiontap.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Logware (www.logware.us): a new and convenient web-based time tracking application. Start tracking and documenting hours spent on a project or with a client with Logware today. Try it for free with a 15 day trial account. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=67 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:197351 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
