yet another coldfusion blog

I have a simple rule when it comes to writing to the database; it should be considered like spanking a child:

• Only do it when it is really, absolutely necessary
• Feel a little guilty every time you do it
• If you are doing it too often, seek professional help

Sure, this is a little tongue-in-cheek, but there is a pretty serious side to it to. The other day on Slashdot I saw a discussion on managing open file/record locks in a database, and a 'marked informative' suggested solution was to update a date field in the database every 10 seconds via Ajax, with an overall 30 second window to allow for network failures/etc.  In other words, what was proposed (and popularized) was that every active record should call home every 10 seconds merely to say somebody is looking at it.  Gads!!!!!  This would add a huge amount of wasted database processing to an application and performance drain on a grand scale (especially if it required transactions and/or write locks).

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I started writing CFML in Homesite over a decade ago, and continued using it until CFEclipse finally lured me away last year.  Recent changes (i.e. the unfortunate decision to update my Eclipse install into something that now tosses Exceptions out like candies in a parade, no matter how many times I wipe the slate clean and reinstall) has more or less pushed me into using ColdFusion Builder as my full-time IDE.  I'm supposedly switching to my Mac soon (I've been saying that since April), so I may switch back once there, but for now I am pushing through with CF Builder.

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I write this in response to Karin (with an "i") Klassen's excellent article "Those beets? i don't buy 'em-- literally".  This is exactly the sort of exposition of good old, down-home honesty that helps demonstrate to the world that in Calgary, Alberta, they know something about how the world should work.  In reading an article like this, you can't but help assume this is a common understanding, the sort of "collective voice" of the local population that represents its thoughts and ideals.  Well good on you Karin ("i"!) for putting these words into our shared consciousness.

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