Making the world a better place with ColdFusion, Web Startup, and Software
Someone asked what tools are usable for software development. Having juggled so many details for so many years, it’s interesting to take a look and see what tools we use and why.
There are many parts to a conceptual design. Depending on which part you focus on a variety of tools are out there.
As with most computer things, Capturing it is easy, filing it away so you can find it later is critical. You won’t use all of these tools 100% of the time, but they all need to flow to one central spot.
It’s simple. Building a product with less time developing the product, and more time building the business around the product (marketing, etc.,), the greater chance it will have of actually succeeding.
I recently read that a product is 80% marketing and 20% actual product. That probably would explain why garbage can succeed and great software can fail.
The truth is as developers, startup entrepreneurs, it’s critical to know how to sell and market. Without learning the ability to have the conversation to sell, there may not be much of a reason to start building anything.
After years of making do with absolutely any equipment and any furniture, and not noticing all that much, I started having a back pain. To the point that I’d have to lie on the carpet for 10 minutes, every hour.
Not good. What could it have been?
The more I looked to my surroundings, I realized what my Dad tried to drill into me once a year. I should respect my tools, take care of them, and get better ones when I am able. Granted, he’s a carpenter by trade and likely the inspiration for Mike Holmes, but his point seemed a little bit more truthful when I was lying on the ground taking a call from a client.
There is no decision that will impact your decision more in any software project than choosing the correct tool. The language, platform, framework and architecture you employ will decide whether you sink or swim. The right choices will help buoy you through great developers and average developers.
It is true that picking the right developers goes a long way, but if you handcuff them everything is going to be significantly slower, and tedious, leading to programmer burnout.
Anyone suggesting a language (including me) will only..
One code base, many platforms.
Flex/Air is delivering on what Java promised to be 10-15 years ago..
With Java many companies made their own Java Runtime and things became incompatible from platform to platform. Microsoft has replied with their WPF/Silverlight, it is capable, but in a lot of ways it doesn’t have the 10+ years of rich [...]
I answered a post on Stack Overflow that seemed to be popular.. so Here it is!
These are the signs I use to determine talent in programming
0) Understands programming is problem solving. The better you get at solving problems in general, the better programmer you will be.
1) A beautiful mind. An ability to quickly, clearly understand [...]
My Beliefs on startups, either gleaned or painfully learnt that I use to assess most anything:
ACTIVITY VS. RESULTS: In startups, do not confuse activity with results. Do not confuse progress with results either.
PROFIT IS BLOOD: Profitability and regular cashflow is the blood flow of your startup. Being able to survive is an accomplishment but [...]
I am generally technology agnostic, and pick the best tool for the job. When anyone tries to convince you of why to use this or that, it’s usually a personal preference.
What I have found is, Coldfusion is a productivity multiplier. It allows one developer to do the work of many people.
For me, Coldfusion is