I might offer up that these programmers may not necessarily have short attention spans, but rather we want to jump in and try coding.
You may be better served with some step by step type tutorials that basic give a step, let them play awhile, then give the next step -------------- Ian Skinner Web Programmer BloodSource www.BloodSource.org Sacramento, CA "C code. C code run. Run code run. Please!" - Cynthia Dunning ....-----Original Message----- ....From: S. Isaac Dealey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ....Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 12:58 PM ....To: CF-Talk ....Subject: framework learning curve (was Re: mach II or fusebox?) .... ....> I feel the same way, but even more so. I've looked at the ....> examples on the ontap site and feel like the learning curve ....> is about like | while I've been able to pickup fusebox & ....> mach-ii & mg fairly easy with a learning curve more like / .... ....Yep... I've heard this. It's my ongoing challenge to make the ....framework more palatable. :) I really suspect it's not so much a ....matter of complexity in the system itself as it is that I'm still ....learning how to present the information in a way that's easier for ....people to understand. .... ....> I think it might be that I need a video tutorial so that ....> the different directory structures and such might make more ....> sense to me. Ontap is the only time when I've looked at the ....> "hello world" example and said,"hmmm, I think I need to ....> review this again". .... ....There's a "Power onTap" presentation on the site now... it's actually ....set up currently as the first page when you go to ....http://www.fusiontap.com although someone mentioned being a bit ....annoyed by that and since putting it up I've found it somewhat ....annoying myself, so I plan to change that, I just haven't got around ....to it yet. .... ....I also haven't got around to creating any shorter demos... I thought ....18 minutes was a reasonable length for a technical presentation, but I ....asked one of my co-workers about it a month or so ago and he said "you ....lost me after the first 2 minutes"... He did admit that it wasn't so ....much about the complexity of the subject as it was that he has a short ....attention span. Though frankly I'm amazed he can program at all with ....an attention span that short... If that sounds derogatory it's not ....meant to be ... .... ....In any event, I've asked around about it to try and see if it's just ....him or if it's just me and I really should record shorter presos. I ....hadn't got a lot of response to the inquiries, but I did talk to a ....couple other programmers who both admitted to having short attention ....spans. So creating some shorter videos is on my list of things to do, ....although it usually gets pushed down the list in favor of ....developmental tasks. .... ........ .... ....Though sitting here answering email and thinking about this subject I ....had a sudden thought about another way of explaining the directory ....structures which might be easier to understand. .... ....Imagine a document comparison tool. It gives you a dialogue with two ....directory paths to compare, so you specify for instance c:\foo = ....c:\bar and press the OK button. The comparison tool then shows you all ....the files in those directories and what variations exist between them. ....Now instead of the intent being for documents in c:\foo to be as close ....to identical to the documents in c:\bar as possible, the intent is for ....documents in c:\foo to include documents in c:\bar... and hence, you ....get something like the ontap framework: .... ..../ontap/index.cfm = /ontap/_components/index/ .... ....Then we just divide up what gets displayed on a page into several ....parts (this should be familiar since you already do this with ....application.cfm, onrequestend.cfm, header and footer includes, etc.) .... ..../index/_application/ (included in application.cfm or ....onRequestStart()) ..../index/_htmlhead/ (style sheets and javascript libraries) ..../index/_local/ (business logic) ..../index/_process.cfm (display) ..../index/_onrequestend/ (included in onrequestend.cfm or onRequestEnd()) .... ....So any of the files you put in these directories will be executed when ....a user requests the index.cfm page on your site. Subdirectories ....include code from their parents (this is similar to FB4's parent ....circuit functionality), so if the current page is /store/cart/ code ....from the /store/ directories are included first, then code from ..../store/cart/ directories. Branding and localization then just use the ....same concepts to further divide page execution by those aspects of the ....desired result page. .... ....The latest versions of the framework also display a list of ....directories in which files are being executed along with CF's debug ....output at the bottom of the page, which should help people get the ....hang of figuring out what code is executing and when. Plus it's ....convenient for development purposes when you're branding an ....application if you're looking at a page, you can immediately see (in ....debug at the bottom) a list of all the places where you need to look ....for code and you can tell by looking at the directory paths when ....custom/branded code for a client is being included. Having all this ....information in one place at the bottom of the page is another ....advantage I sometimes wish I had in my day job. .... .... .... ....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://www.fusiontap.com ....http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm .... .... .... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Logware (www.logware.us): a new and convenient web-based time tracking application. 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