Steve Nelson

For a long time I've been stuck in the mindset that creating a fabulous user interface requires a top-notch artist. I thought someone who is a master of colors and graphics is bound to make the ideal user interface. Trial and error has proved this incorrect. I've done projects with and without fabulous artists. A good artist can improve the details of the interface to make it easier on the eye, but rarely does he or she make suggestions that dramatically improve how the software works. That's okay; that's not their job. But if they're not changing how the software works, then maybe colors and graphics aren't what make a user interface easy to use. Maybe it's the programmers who make it easy to use. The programmers know the database, therefore they must be masters of dat... (more)

The Problem of Complexity: Part 1

As a reader of CFDJ, you're probably an experienced programmer. But what exactly is it that you do? What is programming? Bruce Eckel, in his excellent book Thinking in Java, offers this answer: "At one level, all of programming is about managing complexity." For many of us this answer resonates deeply. Arguments about which language is "best" miss the point - that programmers write progra... (more)

FuseBox Standards

Introduction Writing applications within a multi person team can be difficult. Sharing applications between two teams can become even more difficult. Effectively sharing applications with 30,000 other developers such as with the ColdFusion community is almost impossible... unless everyone adheres to standards for writing these shared applications. The Fusebox Organization has been assemb... (more)

FuseBox Specification Recommendations

Fusebox Organization Writing applications within a multi person team can be difficult. Sharing applications between two teams can become even more difficult. Effectively sharing applications with 30,000 other developers such as with the ColdFusion® community is almost impossible... unless everyone adheres to standards for writing these shared applications. The Fusebox Organization has b... (more)