Many years ago (early 2006 to be exact) the ColdFusion Cookbook was launched. The idea behind the site was simple. Provide a set of 'recipes' with clear solutions provided in ColdFusion. In some cases this was a bit like the regular documentation. (For example, "How do I parse RSS feeds?"). In others, the questions are more unique: How can you test to see if two arrays are the same?"
I'm a big believer in the cookbook format. For the most part, I can use regular documentation to grok technologies. But cookbooks allow you to see more real world examples.
In 2009, I decided to shut down the cookbook site when Adobe launched their own cookbooks (http://cookbooks.adobe.com). I got permission from the original submitters and donated the content to Adobe.
However, the cookbooks at Adobe will soon be switched to "read only" mode. I suppose you could call this "news" (I got permission to mention it), but because of this, I thought it might be nice to re-start the cookbook.
So I've removed the "We're dead" notice, slapped on some Disqus, and switched the search code to Solr. The code behind the site is... um... dusty. But it works. Most of the entries are not quite out of date, but I'll be taking volunteers to help do edits. (In fact, hell, it may even be worthwhile to relaunch as a wiki.)
I'll leave folks with a great blog post by Rob Brooks-Bilson. This is an old one too, but it helps describe the philosophy of what kind of content the site expects: A Word on the ColdFusion Cookbook Philosophy
Archived Comments
YAY! I've actually been MISSING the old CookBook!
So what do you think - should I switch to a wiki perhaps? That would make editing butt easy for me. I can tell you now that's my biggest concern.
I remember it, don't think it will be that popular, I think people have moved onto things like stackoverflow for examples / answers. I had no idea adobe even had one though, so yours will probably be better promoted.
Yeah, SO is pretty popular. Well, we shall see. It didn't take long for me to remove my own 'read only' code. ;)
Just speaking for me - I've never been a huge fan of the wiki format. Like I said though - that's just me.
There is probably stuff in there that is bad advice now. Like one I remember submitting http://www.coldfusioncookbo... Given the local scope now, this is obsolete.
Dale, do you want to submit updating text?
EXCELLENT!
I actually had to go read that blog post of mine that you linked to because I had no recollection of what I had written :)
I looked at the Adobe Cookbooks a while back, and there hadn't been anything posted in a LONG time.
I think if it is used, it will be used.
Stack overflow shows up well in the searches for sure, but I think a community supported structure would be nice.
For what its worth, I'll use it.
I think it would be a good add-on to the json project you started a while back Ray. (I have been meaning to add to that, but as usual my todo list is longer than my novela's)
What a great idea :-) I learned so much from you! What a great way to promote Coldfusion
Thanks for the Good News. Also please include webservices, graphs sections Also.
Maybe a fresh name like coldfusionquora. Cookbook is so ....
I'm a big fan of the Wiki format for the ease of editing and managing content. Wikis are appropriate for content like this that needs to be updated to remain current and relevant as versions and best practices change.
I have a few tidbits to add to the cookbook, like consuming SSL encrypted content using CFML and handling Web Services when CF can't natively parse a WSDL due to a custom data type. I don't have enough tricks of my own to warrant a blog - that's better left to experts like yourself - but I know many CF users out there have something unusual to share; having a site dedicated specifically to CF is valuable IMHO.
Kudos to you for bringing this back.
Ray, can we find some time during cfObjective to discuss the cookbook?
Sure. Find me and remind me.
Awesome!! I'm a fan of the Cookbook format as well.. great place to turn for solutions. Good to hear this news!