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| ColdFusion 5.0 Certified Developer Study Guide Syngress Media, McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002 Look for my name on the back cover! Writing a book chapter from small outline is a tremendous task, especially if you're a bit of a perfectionist. The first chapter that I wrote (Chapter 8) involved a lot of experimentation because I wanted to make sure that I was clear on the subjects before trying to explain them to others. Since the chapter covered a few topics that were new to me, such as user defined functions, I had to test my perceptions thoroughly before making any claims. Because of this testing phase, the chapter took me the full three weeks, working 16 to 22 hours per day. The second chapter (Chapter 1) required much less work but was on a much tighter schedule-- only one week. I tried to get some sleep every day but I was so stressed about getting the chapter out on time that I think I only slept every other day, then only a few hours. Finally the chapters were done. Whew! Luckily, I had a very cute support team waiting in the wings to give me much needed distractions, sushi dinners, and back rubs. I thought about thanking him in my acknowledgments but I figured that by the time the book was printed I wouldn't like him anymore. I was so wrong. I'll add this to me acknowledgements here: Bruce, thanks for the back rubs. |
| Chapter 1: Web Design Basics This 46 page chapter is the introductory chapter to the book and is designed as a preparatory chapter for the rest of the book. The outline I was given included the main sections: web servers, web browsers, the client/server relationship, and server architecture. I expanded the chapter to include information that would be helpful in later chapters. I knew that information on how URLs and query strings work would help in the chapter covering URL variables. General database server information would be useful for the chapter covering CFQuery, as well as the SQL chapter. FTP server coverage would be helpful in the section covering CFFTP, just as POP coverage would help in the CFMail chapter. My primary goal for the chapter was to prepare readers for the subsequent information. This chapter also includes a 15 multiple-choice question test. Main sections:
Demonstrations and exercises:
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| Chapter 8: Code Reuse At 64 pages, this chapter covers the benefits of modularization and the three methods of modularization in ColdFusion 5: CFInclude, custom tags, and user defined functions. My primary goal for this chapter was to be as accurate as possible while explaining some things that confuse many developers. One such issue was the variable scope of UDFs and what the var command does. The documentation that came with ColdFusion 5 was quite vague about this and seemed to give inaccurate information. I found in my research that several books gave conflicting information on the subject, and none of the books matched the information contained in the documentation. The most difficult subject in this chapter was choosing the best method of code reuse, since much of this is subjective and difficult to explain. I tried to give the most concrete reasons possible, so the reader would be able to decide easily on a method. My secondary goal for this chapter was to include the word monkey as many times as possible. When the guys at ecom enterprises took the test at the end of the chapter, they decided that I was evil. However, I asked questions that I had covered thoroughly in the chapter and in many cases, were on information that I emphasized in the chapter. I tried to emphasize these questions because they are potential danger areas for ColdFusion coders. The test has 14 multiple choice questions. Main sections:
Demonstrations and exercises:
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