Tom Peer

Coding ColdFusion and coding JavaScript are about as far apart on the productivity spectrum as it's possible to be. CF tags are neat, easy to read, tolerant, and fun to write. JavaScript is none of that. It has all the drawbacks of traditional languages, with the added disadvantage of sitting somewhat awkwardly within the HTML document model. Anything but the most trivial JavaScript is difficult to write, difficult to debug, and difficult for either the author or another developer to revisit, but, as much as I'd like to, it isn't possible to do without it for interactive Web sit... (more)

Beyond CFMAIL

One of the reasons I was first drawn to ColdFusion was the built-in functionality for such things as sending e-mail, making HTTP requests, FTP uploads - all the myriad subsidiary functions you inevitably find yourself using when you build and manage large sites. Content has to be downloaded from here, uploaded to there, and e-mailed to thousands of users every day. Using only standard Co... (more)

Thinking Outside the Table PART 1

A two-part series looks at techniques for shifting workload away from the application server onto the database by using "extra" database tables. Most ColdFusion programmers understand that when it comes to bulk inserting into a database, it isn't good practice to loop over text files one line at a time with a . However, when faced with the realities of a data feed that needs prepr... (more)

Thinking Outside the Table PART 2

A two-part series looks at techniques for shifting workload away from the application server and onto the database by using "extra" database tables. It's just an average search - three full text indexes, ten subselects on many-to-many joins, and a bit of Pythagoras - to find results within 2km using latitude and longitude. It's the sort of query that makes your database give up just think... (more)