The authors waste no time diving into techniques for improving you skills. In the first couple of pages on string manipulation, I learned tips I could use today. They move quickly into arrays and structures (a challenge for most beginners!) If you're building an application for the first time, the techniques and advice offered throughout will give you working code to build and expand upon.

One section is devoted to database interaction including a simple SQL database you can build to run examples and separate coverage of stored procedures in both MS SQL Server and Oracle. Each recipe is described in a short sentence, making it easy to determine whether it's the one you're looking for, followed by the technique with one or more examples and further comments. There's no wasted text.

Especially interesting to me are the chapters detailing use of the new XML tags and functions and interoperability with JSPs and Servelets. An excellent list of resource websites is included as an appendix. This book is a great companion to your CFML Reference guide. The only improvement would be to make it a fatter, more detailed book!

The cookbook is one of Sams Developer's Library editions, specializing in providing practicing programmers with a core reference to assist them in common day-to-day programming tasks. Highly recommended for intermediate developers wanting to improve their skills quickly.

Lisa Wilson
Sacramento ColdFusion User Group Manager