Adobe ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 1: Getting Started [Paperback]

Ben Forta (Author), Raymond Camden (Author), Charlie Arehart (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 032151548X | ISBN-13: 978-0321515483 | Publication Date: September 27, 2007 | Edition: 1

The ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit is the best-selling ColdFusion series of all time—the books that most ColdFusion developers used to learn the product. This Getting Started volume starts with Web and Internet fundamentals and database concepts and design, and then progresses to topics including creating data-driven pages, building complete applications, implementing security mechanisms, integrating with e-mail, building reusable functions and components, generating data-driven reports and graphs, building Ajax-powered user interfaces, and much more. Complete coverage of ColdFusion 8 continues in “Volume 2, Application Development” (ISBN 0-321-51546-3) and “Volume 3, Advanced Application Development” (ISBN 0-321-51547-1).

Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: Adobe Press; 1 edition (September 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 032151548X
• ISBN-13: 978-0321515483
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #556,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gold Standard of ColdFusion Books, October 11, 2007

By 

Rob Huddleston (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Adobe ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 1: Getting Started (Paperback)

For years, the Web Application Construction Kit has been the gold standard by which ColdFusion books are judged. This new edition, updated for the latest version of ColdFusion, continues in that tradition.

Previous editions have been a bit daunting, so the authors this time wisely decided to split into three volumes instead of the normal two. Volume 1 introduces readers to the basic concepts behind setting up ColdFusion and beginning to write their first applications. Once the basics are covered, it moves on to show how to connect to databases and display that information, create and use forms and their data, make printable content, and set up a basic application framework - pretty much, everything a newcomer to the language would need to know.

The thing that struck me, an advanced ColdFusion developer, about this edition was that many books claim to preach accepted best practices but then sacrifice them in the name of simplicity. These authors, on the other hand, practice what they preach. For years, ColdFusion developers have been stressing the need to create multi-tier applications using ColdFusion Components, and yet most introductory materials on the language have relegated CFCs to advanced courses. This book introduces them as soon as it reasonably can - about half way through - and then follows the "proper" format of using multi-tier applications from then on. So this is not another book that just shows how to create ColdFusion applications, but is rather a book that shows how to build them correctly.

The ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit: Volume 1 is a book that no beginning ColdFusion developer should be without, and even the most experienced developers are bound to learn a few things along the way. It is quite simply the book that no ColdFusion developer at any level can do without.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A welcomed Update...., March 18, 2008

By 

M. Learn (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Adobe ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 1: Getting Started (Paperback)

I have been coding CFML since Coldfusion 5, and I have long used the Cold Fusion MX book as a reference in my daily work, so I was happy to get the new books to help with using some of the newer features.

So this is a large jump from my book for version 6, there is a lot more in the book, but also a lot less. I went ahead and got all three books in the series, and one of the things that I found was missing was the CFML tag reference at the end of the book. I know that sometimes I do work while on the road, and so do not have internet access, but they seem to only want to have that information on-line.

In my review of Volume 3, I did complain about half the book being on-line only and not actually in the print book. When you buy a book, it is nice to actually get the book.

I am far from a new user of Coldfusion so I can not speak of how well it teaches the language, but as a long time user, I do find this series as a nice reference. One things that does seem to be missing is talking about which of the features are new to 8, which were added in 7, and so on. I know that in my development, I need to constantly support customers who are on old version of Coldfusion, so that would be a great thing to have with the Tag reference.

Hope this helps people out there...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars if you have 7.0 book, don't waste your $$, December 10, 2007

By 

Chia-Chung Lee "Windy City" (Chicago US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe ColdFusion 8 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 1: Getting Started (Paperback)

this is mostly the same as 7.0 book, but for 7.0 it covers more than this one. No ajax function, have to wait until the Volumn2 to come out and it seems not coming as scheduled.(it delayed two times)