Sams Teach Yourself ColdFusion in 21 Days

Rating:
Summary: Good Information but Missing Critical Pieces
Review: This book came recommended at a brief ColdFusion class I attended and I've found it useful except for one major flaw: the files it references for download are not the files that are used in the book. They may have the same name, but the tables are all different, the fields are different and the promised tab delimited text versions are not there at all. As a Macintosh user, I have no use for Access files, which are all that is provided (except that even those are wrong). Providing downloable files is a smart way to keep content and tools in sync -- as opposed to a cd that may go out of date when a book is updated. It seems a simple thing to correct this, but so far, no dice. My comments to this extent per their feedback email address have also been ignored. So, be prepared to create your own test database -- something you shouldn't have to do when focusing on new coding technique and database design.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book for beginners
Review: This book has been a great help. I am new to ColdFusion and web programing in general. I got this book when I was handed this project and was using ColdFusion in no time. The book is well worn after a few months use. I have moved on to other books for more indepth help since. I still use it nearly everyday.

Rating:
Summary: A real page turner
Review: This book has the most interesting plot and most fully developed characters of any of the Cold Fusion books on the market. Although I personally have some reservations about the graphic ... activity depicted in chapter four, most readers will find this par for the course in today's publishing world. Get your copy now!

Rating:
Summary: If You Buy One Coldfusion Book, This Should Be It
Review: This book is practical, understandable, detailed, teaches the reader well, and has plenty of examples. The Coldfusion Tag Reference at the end is actually better than the same material in Allaire's documentation because it is formatted to make it easier to read than Allaire's manual. It is written for the novice like the Dummies series, but covers much more material. The beginner may need to read some passages more than once or even twice, just because the material is difficult, but rarely because the concepts aren't explained well. Although it is fun to read because Mohnike is an entertaining writer, it is clear and doesn't contain fluff, or distract you from learning. The writing can even make learning Coldfusion fun, so it would be great for training seminars or teachers (I've been a professor for 25 years). Clearly Mohnike studied earlier Coldfusion books and managed to keep the good and throw out the bad. If you buy one Coldfusion book, this should be it.

Rating:
Summary: Mohnike does it again!
Review: This book is specific to Coldfusion 5, the first release under Macromedia. Mohnike has done another great job of explaining all of CF's new features without using that annoying techie jargon, and without talking down to us. Anyone who wants to pick up CF quickly and easily should get this book! This is the one I give to my new employees to bring them up to speed, and often find the old hands thumbing through frequently.

Rating:
Summary: Mohnike does it again!
Review: This book is specific to Coldfusion 5, the first release under Macromedia. Mohnike has done another great job of explaining all of CF's new features without using that annoying techie jargon, and without talking down to us. Anyone who wants to pick up CF quickly and easily should get this book! This is the one I give to my new employees to bring them up to speed, and often find the old hands thumbing through frequently.

Rating:
Summary: Put it to use at a fast pace!
Review: This book is truly amazing. It got me started with ColdFusion almost immediately. It's a great book for any beginner or advanced web developer. If you're an ASP developer like myself, you'll probably find that you will be flying through this book. If you're a beginner, it also does an excellent job explaining the material. He uses humor and a non-formal style of writing to grab your attention, while still teaching you the technicalities of ColdFusion. (In comparison to Ben Forta's book... which talks more about database theory in the first 200 pages or so. If you're in a hurry, this book will get you up and running at a faster pace.) This is a great buy. Try it out.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book For Newbies
Review: This is a great book for ColdFusion newbies and web development beginners in general. While covering most of the important ColdFusion topics, this book is primarily for beginners (eg in one chapter it explains the concept of 'view source') so if you're after anything more than the basics, it's best that you look elsewhere. That said, the book does an excellent job of introducing the reader to ColdFusion and, if tested, would probably meet its goal of enabling a completely new user to teach themselves ColdFusion 5 in 21 days (or even less). This book is well written with few (if any) errors. The tips and examples are useful, with the examples noticeably uncluttered by superfluous formatting code that often appears in these sorts of books. The Q & A section at the end of each chapter is a nice touch, and the exercises offer a good way to revise the content of the given chapter (although an accompanying CD or website containing suggested code for each exercise would be handy). Bottom line: 'Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia ColdFusion 5 in 21 Days' is a good resource for web developers wanting to learn ColdFusion 5.

Rating:
Summary: It doesn't deserve 5 stars, not even 20, 100 perhaps!!
Review: Well, well, what can I say? This book did not get off to a very good start....and I'll tell you why. It is because I already have around 7 breeze block sized computer books, every single one of them has only had perhaps five dozen pages thumbed through before I gave up. They all started with the ubiquitous 'let me let you in on a secret, this stuff is pretty easy etc...'. Then they go off at wild and frustrating tangents leaving you high and dry. ...It says 21 days, but I finished it in 3, pulled up a chair and started coding away!! He mentioned several times in the book that he expects you to be fairly proficient in HTML coding, so I was a bit apprehensive. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Every single tag of HTML is explained along with the ColdFusion stuff. This book not only taught me ColdFusion, but it also taught me both HTML and SQL!! This is totally unbelievable and makes SUCH a refreshing change from the norm! The style could not be criticised, it was humorous, but it was like he had his hand on your shoulder the whole time guiding you through the book and anticipating your every doubt and question and then taking pains to explain each and every step. The front-end back-end connectivity/interfacing issue was always a big mystery to me, until Charles explained it. So was the precise mechanics involved in setting up an e-commerce site. All that is now old hat in my mind and I am well underway to setting up a medium sized online store singlehandedly. In hindsight, had I been asked to pay a $1000 for this book, I would still think it a bargain of a lifetime. The one drawback is that it demystifies ColdFusion and makes it so simple, no holds barred, that those wanting to make a future as CF developers may well find their future under threat if this secret gets out!!! Anyway, go buy it....it's good and worth every purple cent.

Rating:
Summary: Great book for EVERYBODY
Review: Whether you are a beginner or an experienced ColdFusion developer,this book is great for you.It's complementory to Ben Forta's books. If you want to have just one book for ColdFusion,this one is right for you !!