I have been coding CFML since Coldfusion 5, and I have long used the Cold Fusion MX book as a reference in my daily work, so I was happy to get the new books to help with using some of the newer features.

So this is a large jump from my book for version 6, there is a lot more in the book, but also a lot less. I went ahead and got all three books in the series, and one of the things that I found was missing was the CFML tag reference at the end of the book. I know that sometimes I do work while on the road, and so do not have internet access, but they seem to only want to have that information on-line.

In my review of Volume 3, I did complain about half the book being on-line only and not actually in the print book. When you buy a book, it is nice to actually get the book.

I am far from a new user of Coldfusion so I can not speak of how well it teaches the language, but as a long time user, I do find this series as a nice reference. One things that does seem to be missing is talking about which of the features are new to 8, which were added in 7, and so on. I know that in my development, I need to constantly support customers who are on old version of Coldfusion, so that would be a great thing to have with the Tag reference.

Hope this helps people out there...

Having paid $30 for this book, I expected to have more than what it had in it. It had some pretty good examples and explainations, but just didnt have enough in the book for what I paid for it. I have 4 books on Coldfusion and this is the one I probably use the least. But one reason for that is that a lot of the features they talk about in the book are new to CF8 and my website is running on CF7 so I cant deploy many of the applications in the book. But still had great practice applications I can test on my Development server and see the new features though.

ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit: Volume 1 is better than "ColdFusion for Dummies" or the "ColdFusion MX Bible". The authors describe how to use coldfusion tags, databases and SQL language to build applications. The descriptions and samples are easy to understand, and good tips are given throughout the book. Even experienced developers will learn how to create multi-tier applications. Can't wait to get Volume 2 and 3 for my bookshelf!

this is mostly the same as 7.0 book, but for 7.0 it covers more than this one. No ajax function, have to wait until the Volumn2 to come out and it seems not coming as scheduled.(it delayed two times)

For years, the Web Application Construction Kit has been the gold standard by which ColdFusion books are judged. This new edition, updated for the latest version of ColdFusion, continues in that tradition.

Previous editions have been a bit daunting, so the authors this time wisely decided to split into three volumes instead of the normal two. Volume 1 introduces readers to the basic concepts behind setting up ColdFusion and beginning to write their first applications. Once the basics are covered, it moves on to show how to connect to databases and display that information, create and use forms and their data, make printable content, and set up a basic application framework - pretty much, everything a newcomer to the language would need to know.

The thing that struck me, an advanced ColdFusion developer, about this edition was that many books claim to preach accepted best practices but then sacrifice them in the name of simplicity. These authors, on the other hand, practice what they preach. For years, ColdFusion developers have been stressing the need to create multi-tier applications using ColdFusion Components, and yet most introductory materials on the language have relegated CFCs to advanced courses. This book introduces them as soon as it reasonably can - about half way through - and then follows the "proper" format of using multi-tier applications from then on. So this is not another book that just shows how to create ColdFusion applications, but is rather a book that shows how to build them correctly.

The ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit: Volume 1 is a book that no beginning ColdFusion developer should be without, and even the most experienced developers are bound to learn a few things along the way. It is quite simply the book that no ColdFusion developer at any level can do without.