Blogs and Podcasts

As a developer, there are many ways to approach solving the problems that you encounter. One of the primary points i am making is where do we find inspiration and ideas for how to solve things. I have been making alot of rounds lately in the blog sphere. I cannot stress enough how much outstanding fodder is available in peoples blogs. Someone, Brian Hegeman, once encouraged me to use the blog sphere to find answers to questions but more than that to stretch my understanding of the bigger picture. I was not ready at that time, probably because i was too busy just trying to understand the code base i was working on, supporting ect. I was fortune enough to work with a couple guys who were very talented programmers/architects. There was much for me to learn.

I made a decision after the cf-objective conference this year to spend more time stretching my brain with other peoples perspectives and ideas. Over the past 3 months I have been almost daily going to blogs not looking for a specific answer to a problem, but just to listen in on some conversations. I also joined a couple specific groups, where the conversation is specific about a framework, machII and a model layer manager called ColdSpring. These are specific frameworks that the main application i support uses. As part of this blogging experience, i have created a public space trying to share the learning and organize some of the blogs i have visited.

I have found myself also listening to a few podcasts. Some people may prefer to read, but the podcasts are very useful and pretty focused on relevant topics for the ColdFusion developer. I have found that a couple different CF related podcasts have been around for a few years. Hal helms and Jeff Peters have been doing one for awhile as have Bryan Kaiser and Michael Kaynie. This format starts out discussing relevant CF related news, then typically has someone interviewed. In 2006 Matt WoodWard and Peter Ferrel of machii and CF fame started a podcast called ColdFusion Weekly.. The ColdFusion weekly has recently stopped creating new podcasts but a couple others have just began. CF conversations is more of a round-table interview format.

Here is a short list of topics that i have been plugging into the past couple weeks in various blogs and podcasts.

SQL injection and protection
Marketing CF
Creating more CF developers by giving CF away to educational institutions (ADOBE)
Creating an official curriculum for Universities to adopt
CFAJAX, built in ajax tags for CF8
Krugle.com - code search engine
FLEX -vs- AJAX debate
Framework or no-framework debate
Flex as the view layer, CF as the model layer, machii or model glue as controller

If you wanna be a developer, then pull your head out of the hole and embrace the blog sphere that has so much to offer.