In today's cooking class you'll add to your cookbook a delicious recipe. It's quick and won't cost you a dime. I'm sure you've been in one of these situations when you have unexpected guests arriving in 20 minutes and need to make a good impression. Let's create an application that will auto-generate a Flex-Tomcat-BlazeDS-DB2 application.

Exciting news for organizations and developers using ColdFusion: Adobe released ColdFusion 8 on July 30. This release is a major milestone for the product: it is the first full-version ColdFusion release by Adobe since the acquisition of Macromedia. With the release of CF 8, Adobe has shown their commitment to the product and their commitment to enabling ColdFusion developers to build better Web-enabled applications faster than with any other technology.

My editorial last month was a high-level overview of all the new features in ColdFusion 8. Many of these features were generally divided into one of two categories: features that address developer productivity and those that focus on integrating with other products and technologies.

Roman astrology turned into the Greek alphabet recently, with the announcement that the previously named 'Scorpio' has been released as the ColdFusion 8 Beta. Initial reaction from the most sophisticated members of the CF community was positive.

On May 30, Adobe released the public beta of ColdFusion 8. Although things can change between the public beta and the final release - the features included in CF 8 are unlikely to change between now and the official release, so I thought I'd give a high-level overview of some significant new features and why developers and companies should be interested in ColdFusion 8.

Yes, you read the title correctly: 'Scorpio,' the highly anticipated eighth major release of ColdFusion is coming soon to a town near you. Even before the release of the highly successful ColdFusion MX 7 two years ago, the ColdFusion team was already hard at work scheming, experimenting, planning, building, creating...and the result is 'Scorpio.'

I've been around software for 20 years now. Looking back, I have mixed feelings about the progress we've made. The end results have been amazing but the process of building software hasn't fundamentally changed since the 80s. In fact, I see us make some of the same mistakes over and over again. One of the common anti-patterns is over-relying on tools and frameworks instead of inventing new programming models.

A student recently asked me what he could do to further his career, and inquired as to how I got to the point I am at on my own. This is a subject generally reserved for informal chit-chat among developers at conference social events and after user group meetings, and is one that is very important to each of us.

Since our last issue, several events have transpired that have significant impact for ColdFusion developers. I have been keeping my eye on several trends and have been evaluating whether or not they deserve focus in ColdFusion Developer's Journal. I've begun blogging about these trends and about my observations and ideas regarding these trends and the future of CFDJ.

While recently channel surfing, one of the 'Geico caveman' commercials came on the tube to remind me that Geico.com is so easy to use, even a caveman can do it. Plenty of ColdFusion developers are not what some people might call 'real programmers.' This is not necessarily a reflection on the platform; I've met plenty of Java and .NET developers who couldn't code their way out of a wet paper bag either. The very idea that someone is 'not a real developer' is ridiculous. You're either a developer or you're not. If you get the job done and you do it fast and well, I don't care what you wrote it in - even if you are a caveman.

Keeping up to date with the most recent versions of software and programming languages is the toughest challenge for me as a developer. With each passing year it seems that the demands of being a top Web developer require proficiency in more and more tools and languages. Gone are the days of just knowing HTML and JavaScript Validation.

ColdFusion developers today are presented with more options than ever before - more developer tools, more conferences and learning resources, and more development choices in the form of frameworks and language features.

Spending as much time as I have speaking before audiences, I try very hard to keep an eye on trends and attitudes within demographic groups, including university students. I have also had the opportunity in the past to represent Macromedia as a lecturer at Ivy League universities.

Usually, when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We've all seen the spam - 'Increase your 100%' e-mails that are clearly nothing more than ridiculous claims with no validity.

When ColdFusion Developer's Journal was launched eight years ago, it was the first printed periodical exclusively by and for ColdFusion developers. Over the years there have been many changes in format, authors, and publishing/editorial staff. One thing has remained constant, however: the focus of the magazine has always been to serve the CF development community with the best content possible.

Let's face it, the web is a frequently changing landscape - more so now than it has been since its inception. When the term 'Web 2.0' first set the industry on fire, I have to admit, I was not terribly excited.

I was really busy for several weeks prior to CFUnited and am back on the road again... but there's a silver lining. I'm basically done with my first round of SAM docs and I will be making those available very soon; I have the code and stories/advice to post as well - I just haven't had the time. I do promise I'll be blogging and posting interesting stuff very soon, though.

When ColdFusion was first released there was one main feature, more than any other feature, that made it very popular very fast: ColdFusion makes it ridiculously easy to create Web pages that can talk to databases and display database information. Now, almost 11 years later, this is still one of ColdFusion's primary strengths and most popular features.

I've written a lot lately about the growing strength of the ColdFusion development community - shown by the onslaught of frameworks and the rapid adoption and support for these frameworks, the growing number of bloggers, new conferences and the great success of the CFUnited conference, and by the commitment to the community being shown by Adobe.

'I'm shocked...shocked, I say, at just how much the ColdFusion landscape is changing. I'm specifically impressed with the impact that recent trends and events have had on the community.' His editorial this month is a detailed look at some recent events within the community and how they will impact things to come.

It's no secret that I've been outspoken about not liking frameworks for quite some time now. The truth is, I believe that frameworks have a lot to offer. The most significant benefit that organizations stand to gain from using frameworks is a standardized way to code and an environment that is generally more conducive to allowing multiple developers to work on a project at the same time. If frameworks help to standardize how things are done and make it easier for many developers to work on a project, why have I been vocal about not liking them? Am I just trying to create controversy?

I've been a certified ColdFusion instructor for six years and speak regularly at user groups and conferences. One thing I've learned without a shadow of a doubt is that talk is cheap. Anyone can talk a good talk, but the proof is always in the pudding. Okay, enough clichés.

'2005 has been one of the most significant years in history for ColdFusion developers and Web developers in general,' writes CFDJ Editor-in-Chief Simon Horwith. '2006 looks to be a very promising year as well, between the impending release of Flex 2, the beginning of seeing what Adobe does with the product, and the continued development of ColdFusion 8, code named 'Scorpio.' Still, at the end of the year it's good to look back on the legacy we will inherit and build-on in the year(s) to come.'

It's official - the Adobe acquisition of Macromedia has been finalized and our beloved ColdFusion has a new home. Is this a bad thing? No, not at all. There was a lot of talk within the community about how this may adversely effect the server, but talk is cheap and, in this case, also very premature.

As a developer I tend to focus my attention on learning the tools that best meet my immediate project needs. As a Macromedia Certified Instructor I am in the position of having to learn all of the new features and tools, even those that I may not personally use very often in development, in order to teach them to my students. My role as a developer is unique in that I spend the majority of my time dealing with application architecture and business objects, whereas the average developer focuses more on the presentation tier on a day-to-day basis. It's very important that I am able to teach Flash forms, PDF and FlashPaper generation, the report builder IDE, and new Dreamweaver features to name a few to people who really need and rely on them to get the job done when they leave the classroom and go back to the office.

It was exactly one year ago that ColdFusion Developer's Journal began focusing heavily on a different topic every month. The feedback that I hear from our readers at conferences and via email indicates that it has been a well-received change in format. While there is no plan to stop this practice, there are other ideas that I'd like to experiment with in order to try and give our readers the most useful content possible. The specialized focus issue format was introduced in order to make each month's issue more informative and to offer something for everyone, regardless of the level of expertise. The new format will be to have both focus and non-focus issues, but with certain common themes that are touched upon all year round.

In addition to the XML and community articles I've mentioned, we also have some terrific articles about other topics. In the regular 'Macromedia Speaks Out' column, Tim Buntel introduces the ColdFusion Administrator API. This API is new in CFMX 7 and allows developers to programmatically access the CF Admin functionality and data. Duncan Jack has written a terrific article about UML and UML tools, which I highly recommend. In his regular column, Hal Helms has written another 'etudes' article - focusing on ColdFusion structures this month.

This month, I am pleased to announce that Kevin Kazmierczak is the winner of the contest to develop a polling/survey application. His submission included a simple set-up and script for creating and populating the database (a straight-forward read me file makes installation easy), a slick administrative interface that is robust and easy to use, and a front-end that allows site visitors to enter their response to the current poll(s). His solution includes not only the ability to create questions and define the answers and HTML Form Control answer format, but also the ability to view current poll results in simple chart format (including PDF format) as well.

I'm writing this editorial on the exact day that ColdFusion 1.0 was released back in 1995. Looking back over the server's evolution, it's really come a long way from its start as a CGI application (anyone remember DBML?). Though the server has really grown substantially, the things that made it popular back then are still its strongest features: a rapid development environment for creating dynamic, database driven web applications. ColdFusion MX 7 reminds me a lot of the first release of CF 10 years ago - so many powerful new features that make tasks which are difficult in other environments, trivial.

At the time of this writing, Adobe has recently announced its plan to acquire Macromedia in an all-stock trade worth billions ($3.4 billion was the estimate at the time of the announcement). The ColdFusion development community has been abuzz with speculation about how this will affect the future of CF - including many doomsday prognosticators suffering from 'Chicken Little Syndrome.' Ladies and gentlemen, the sky is not falling.

Before describing this month's prize and contest, I would like to thank everyone for their submissions to our first contest (CFDJ vol. 7 issue 3). That contest objective was to modify Ray Camden's blog in any way you choose, and you had to take advantage of at least one new feature in CFMX 7. Announcing the Winners of Challenge #1 The winners are Nahuel Foronda and Laura Arguello from Blue Instant (www.blueinstant.com/). They chose to use Flash Forms and Web Services to create a weather pod. I plan to migrate horwith.com to a new server in the near future, and when I do, their pod will be there as well. I also believe Ray Camden is going to make the pod available for download from his site, either as part of the next version of his blog or as a separate add-on to his blog. Congratulations, Laura and Nahuel. Challenge #3 As many of you know, I spend a huge amount of my 'free time' writing code, books, editing CFDJ, and so on. This month I've decided to take one of the ideas (I've currently got about 20 potential projects in my head) for an application that I've been planning to write and make publicly available, and present it to our readers as a challenge.

The topic of focus for this month's issue is 'architecture.' Software architecture is the study and practice of the art of planning and developing applications, and it also happens to be my favorite topic and area of expertise. It is the cornerstone of everything we do, and developers of every level of expertise and experience can gain from its understanding.

It's finally here! ColdFusion MX 7 is the most customer driven release of ColdFusion to date - new features for delivering printable content in the form of portable (FlashPaper or PDF) documents or reports, an event gateway that allows the server to communicate with any system or device via Java gateways...

I want to take this opportunity to announce a new service to the development community - 'blog-n-play.' Blog-n-play is a Web site launched by SYS-CON that allows anyone who'd like, to create his or her own blog - and it's free. Your blog is associated with one of the SYS-CON publications (anyone reading this editorial is most likely suited to creating a CFDJ blog).

'I get excited every time we release a new version of ColdFusion,' writes Tim Buntel. 'I usually hit the road and talk about the release to customers at their companies, user group events, and conferences. I start the conversation by saying, 'This is the best ColdFusion ever! Wait till you see what you can do with this!' Well, ColdFusion MX 7 is here and this time, I won?t need to say a word. All you need to do is take a look at this release to see that I am not exaggerating whatsoever.'

ColdFusion Developer's Journal editor-in-chief Simon Horwith writes: 'It's finally here! ColdFusion MX 7 was released about an hour prior to this writing. This release is the most customer driven release of ColdFusion to date.'

For several months I've been promising there would be changes in CFDJ in the New Year. Change in the form of offering deep-focused issues. Change in the form of new regular and semi-regular columns. Well, the time has finally come. This month we are focusing on presenting data. A large number of our articles have to do with getting all of that raw data out of our databases and server memory, and onto the screen in a friendly format.

As I write this, I am beginning to box up my belongings and prepare for another move across the Atlantic. I've accepted the position of CIO at AboutWeb - a staff augmentation and software development company based out of Washington, DC. I'm moving back into one of the richest ColdFusion communities and couldn't be happier about it.

I've just returned to London from MAX 2004...what a conference! The announcement of the availability of Flex 1.5; cool demos of Blackstone, Flex, Flash on mobile devices; and a sneak peek at what's in Flash 8 were among the more notable announcements and content at this year's conference. For a more in-depth summary of the conference, take a look at April Fleming's article in this month's issue.

It's good to experiment - this holds true for any and every endeavor. Last month I tried something different with CFDJ; almost every article in the issue was about one topic - security. I've gotten a lot of feedback from readers and am happy to report that it was all very positive. Many of you wrote telling me that you really enjoyed seeing an issue devoted to one topic in-depth.