Customer Reviews

ColdFusion 5 Web Application Construction Kit (4th Edition)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I own both the third edition (covering CF 4.0) and this one, and there are major difference between the two, not to this edition's advantage.
I thought the previous edition was a lesson in clarity, and it was concise, still containing most of the things one needed to know to be reasonable proficient in CFML.
This book, however, is quite bloated, and more importantly, lacks the clarity of its predecessor. But, bloated as it is, it omits, or keeps unreasonable short, several vital explanations. I mean, there are more explanations, for instance, about locking in the Study guide than in this book! The same goes for CFSCRIPT, etc, etc. Granted, there are two books by Forta et al, but you may find that the price tag is little too hefty...
Sorely lacking are the tags and Functions reference section that was SOOOOO useful in the previous volume. You now have to buy the Reference guide. Etc, etc...

This is a disappointing book, because the third edition had me set my hopes high for the follow-up.

You should really, really favor the O'Reilly book, it's extremely straightforward, clear, and contains everything of importance, INCLUDING the tags and Functions reference.

I've been using ColdFusion for years, and this book (starting with the earlier versions) has always been an indispensable part of my library. The first seven chapters are essential to train beginners, and the complete reference section at the end keeps me picking it up at least once a week. While you won't be using the whole book forever, the completeness of this book will cover you in any situation. Some people that I've trained even say that the book makes for good reading; while it is less bland than most reference books, I wouldn't say that. If you expect to use CF on a regular basis, you need this book or something like it. Add the Advanced version once you're familiar with CF. Unless there's something wrong with you, you can train yourself in CF with this book. If you have previous programming experience, you'll breeze it.

Ben Forta's The ColdFusion 5.0 Web Application Construction Kit is now in a fully updated and expanded fourth edition covering all the new features and options in ColdFusion 5 -- the next major upgrade for this popular software. Forta presents and teaches all the basics required to be able to create complete and professional applications, including: create real-time, secure, scalable, web based applications, use the new ColdFusion Studio development tools, including the WYSIWYG editor and the interactive SQL query builder, develop Intranet applications to interact with existing corporate databases, create secure e-commerce sites, use the new debugging tools and features, generate business graphics using the new graphing engine, implement security and access control, create reusable components, and build complete applications from the ground up. Highly recommended for beginning/intermediate users.

If you want to learn and to be able to code ColdFusion fast, then this book might NOT be the best choice to start. Be prepared, it will take a very long time to digest all those 1500 pages! The writing style and the topics it covers are super! But... it is too thick! (Not all yet, there is another volume 2 for the more advanced CF stuff.) By the time you reach a half of this book (about 700+ pages), you may not remember much what covers at the beginning, and you probably may not be ready for any CF application work.

What made me not to give this book a perfect 5-star because the book doesn't teach what I was looking for:

1. The use of JavaScript together with CF code for common functions such as validations or cursor control on the client site.

2. Some common CSS styles in CF templates. This would save CF developers a lot time in coding and testing.

3. The use of any of the ColdFusion development methodologies such as 'Fusebox', 'CFObjects', 'Black Box', or 'Switch Box',...

This is probably the best ColdFusion book you can get right now. Goes over the very basics of web programming - all the technical stuff served to you on a silver platter. They did a really good job on showing you examples and giving detailed descriptions on how everything works. I liked how they showed you real world examples of applications and many other things you can integrate in your web apps such as Flash, Graphing, and Text Searching using Verity. It gives basics of creating a shopping cart also.

Aside from giving you a strong foundation of CFML basics (and functions), it gives you a foundation in databases and SQL. The fun doesn't stop there as it also provides tips on better ColdFusion Server configuration, data persistence, generating Excel documents and an intro on Wireless programming - all with explanations, side notes, and screenshots of what's going on. This book is definitely a great one.

What I didn't like about the book was how they purposely left out other juicy basics such as creating user defined functions and more in depth info XML/WDDX. I think these were basic enough to be put in here, but I guess it makes you want to get the other book. However, it's definitely a good buy.

If you want to learn Cold Fusion this book indeed has lots of info. But compared to the older editions such as the Second Edition and Third Edition it lacks easy to understand language. The Second Edition was a great book and it explained a lot of fuctions and tags very well. Then the 3rd edition came along and it was not as clear. Now this 4th edition is missing lots of important details. Such as appendix A and B - They list the tags and functions but lack any indepth description other than a short one line remark. The older editions had great references that not only showed the tags/functions but had examples of the return codes if any. I would recommend looking at a different book if your learning. If you know Cold Fusion then this book has all the data you need to figure it out. But I would hat to learn from it for the first time!

This book is a must for every Cold Fusion Developer. As with the previous versions of this book, the chapters were easy to navigate and the updates for Cold Fusion 5 made the transition from Cold Fusion 4 to version 5 easier to understand. If you develop in Cold Fusion it's time to update your Cold Fusion "Bible."

What more could you ask for in a book about CF. The new examples are clear an concise and offer the reader real world examples. Ben and company did a great job. If you are thinking about developing in Cold Fusion, or want to brush up your skills, this is the one book you NEED to get.

I was very disappointed to see the way this book turned out. I've been buying this book since the first edition and I have to say that each edition has gotten progressively worse!

This monster is over 1500 pages - way too big to be a good reference. Some topics I consider "basic" such as UDFs aren't covered until the Advanced Book. I see this as another money making scheme - put some basic stuff in the advanced book, and make people buy both! Another point that really irritates me is that the tag and function references were pulled out of the book and moved to a CD. If I wanted online docs, I'd just use the ones that install with CF. Not that it really matters in this case as the references in Ben's book have always been almost a direct copy of the CF documentation.

The book isn't all bad - there is some new material and good examples that still warrant consideration.

I bought this book back in 2001 and taught myself ColdFusion. I created my own blog/publishing system and a wedding site for a friend that had a guestbook and membership, etc. The book had very clear examples and you worked through sample projects. It was well written and if I remember correctly funny in parts. I highly recommend this book.