Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 9, 2007 10:58 AM

The Triangle Area ColdFusion Users Group meets tonight. You have RSVP'd already haven't you?

This meeting is a casual get-together. We will go over a few future topics we have lined up, our continued direction, etc.. And any questions YOU might have.. What do you want to see covered in topics... basic, intermediate, or advanced topics.. how should we split them up....

So have your voice heard!

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 8, 2007 9:20 AM

Get your entries in today! Remember, the winner gets their name plastered on blogs and takes home a copy of CF8 Standard Edition!

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 8, 2007 9:18 AM

When I tried to install Subclipse into Flex Builder 3 beta Standalone version, I got an error claiming org.eclipse.jdt.core was missing. A recent post by Joao Fernandes pointed me in the right direction. In my case, I needed to update the Java Development Tools and the Plugin Development Environment.

To perform the updates:

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 8, 2007 8:50 AM

If you read my blog regularly, you know one of my favorite tools to use is the VarScoper. Created and maintained by Mike Schieberl, the tool checks source code for improperly scoped variables.

Yesterday, in addition to a new home for the VarScoper tool on RIA Forge, Mike announced the VarScoper now parses cfscript blocks. This is a great improvement to the tool and is a must-update for all current users.

A big NoDans.com Thank You to Zac Spitzer, who contributed initial code, and to Mike Schieberl for finishing off the feature!

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 5, 2007 8:21 AM

I am pricing laptops after the Dell C640 died Monday night. I want a the new Mac hardware with Leopard on it. So far, there have been various delays and with the Dell finally going to that great /dev/null in the sky, I believe my hand is forced.

I own a very fine HP laptop and would like another. The problem being HP only offers Vista on their new hardware and I refuse to be a Vista Owner. (If you care why, listen to episodes 73-77 on the SecurityNow podcast. Very enlightening stuff.) Because of my preference, I am limited to the following Laptops:

• Vostro 1000
• Vostro 1500
• Latitude D520
• Latitude D531

As a Red-Blooded Card-Carrying Capitalist, I am offended to be limited to 4 laptop models. We live in a 'Free Market' Society. The last time I checked, there were 4 Major Laptop vendors and a smattering of lesser known/quality manufacturers. Surely one of them (preferrably HP) can offer XP on their computers.

So after swimming through the injustices and trade offs, I finally select a laptop, configure it to my satisfaction and begin selecting the support options. I normally decline support, but Dell offered a very interesting deal:

So I get Three Years Support for essentially $100? Lemme check the fine print:

So they will send me a coupon for 70$ off my next purchase. It will take 4-6 weeks after my order ships. This $70 coupon expires 120 days from "date of eligible system purchase".

I am no expert in accounting, but if there are 10 days between the date of the system purchase and 28-42 days required for arrival of said coupon, there will be somewhere between 68 - 82 days to use the coupon. Man, gotta love fine print.

So for now, I am going to put away the credit card, cancel my $1,400 order from Dell and keep it just me, the HP, the old MacBook, and my new Coaster, the Dell C640. There has to be a better way. I appreciate all advice on the topic.

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 3, 2007 1:07 PM

The illustrious Charlie "CJ" Griefer has found some interesting CF9 artwork. Will this be cover art for the next ColdFusion release?

Every time I look at that Ben-Taur image I laugh.....

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 3, 2007 8:05 AM

The brilliant people at Adobe have just let us know that Flex Builder for Linux has been alpha released on labs.

Why does this matter? Allow me to present my perspective:

• While statistically small, the Linux userbase is very influential and represents disproportionally influential users who use and recommend advanced technology.
• Linux is a serious desktop Operating System and market share for Linux based systems continues to grow.
• Adobe has aligned the organization behind a cross-platform strategy. Any ground gained for platforms not belonging to other commercial competitors is a boon for Adobe. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

Congratulations to the Adobe team in charge of implementing the Linux version. Equally, congratulations to the management who greenlighted the project. This shows amazing vision.

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 2, 2007 2:10 PM

Sarge just posted that ColdFusion 9 will be called Centaur. Apparently this is late breaking news, and details are still to come, but......

HURRY UP AND POST MORE DETAILS ALREADY!!!!

Super Awesome Centaur Image courtesy of IT Premium

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     October 1, 2007 9:00 AM

The Kalender team is hard at work making sure the upcoming release of Kalendar is the best yet. Meanwhile, the Kalendar Design Contest has 2 weeks remaining.

Are you a talented designer? Compete and win a copy of ColdFusion 8 Standard for your top design!

Are you a mediocre designer, compete anyways! It is much better than watching re-runs of Hee Haw on TV

Are you a crappy designer (like me) with a Digg account? Digg the Contest Announcement

See, everyone can play along!

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Posted By : Dan Wilson     September 27, 2007 8:45 PM

Code that is not Thread Safe is sneaky, dangerous and leads to bewildering production errors and strange side effects.

As part of my deployment procedure, I run code through an automated code analyzer for improperly scoped variables. Today, while running the analyzer, it flagged this set of code:

"Wait just a minute", I said, "There is nothing wrong with that bit of code". Upon closer inspection I noted the 's' and quickly made the correction. Had I not used the automated code analyzer, this Thread-Unsafe code would have went into production.

There are many good posts about var scoping your variables, should you need more convincing. Mike Schierberl actually made and posted a video showing a memory leak in action caused by code that is not thread safe and Mike also gives away the automated code analyzer. If you haven't yet, I challenge you to download it and run it against some code. You might be surprised!

Update: Mike Schieberl and Zac Spitzer have made some improvements to the Var Scoper tool. The tool parses cfscript and is now hosted on http://varscoper.riaforge.org/ . Thanks Mike and Zac for the fine work on one of the most important code checking tools out there!

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