Rating:  Summary: Look at the free Fusebox docs first... Review: First, fusebox is great. I started using it and I am doing more with less code. I have been programming web apps for about 3 years and fusebox is the best methodology for WEB programmming because of its various levels of implementation and open-source approach...now, about the book...I will say I commend the authors/editors for publishing a fusebox book, but I wish they had more time to edit and organize it. It has good content, but is hard to follow because it is not clearly organzied. In addition, some areas stop short of discussing each point involving a method in fusebox. For example, CF_ReuseForm has three different usages, but NONE are THOROUGHLY explained. Save some dough and get the PDF version. I guess the first edition/version of some books turn out better in future editions, and here is hoping that Steve, etal, create a more clear and organized book for version 3 of fusebox.
Rating:  Summary: Look at the free Fusebox docs first... Review: First, fusebox is great. I started using it and I am doing more with less code. I have been programming web apps for about 3 years and fusebox is the best methodology for WEB programmming because of its various levels of implementation and open-source approach...now, about the book... I will say I commend the authors/editors for publishing a fusebox book, but I wish they had more time to edit and organize it. It has good content, but is hard to follow because it is not clearly organzied. In addition, some areas stop short of discussing each point involving a method in fusebox. For example, CF_ReuseForm has three different usages, but NONE are THOROUGHLY explained. Save some dough and get the PDF version. I guess the first edition/version of some books turn out better in future editions, and here is hoping that Steve, etal, create a more clear and organized book for version 3 of fusebox.
Rating:  Summary: Fusebox Good, This Book Bad Review: Fusebox is an amazing methodology. But the book is aweful. These guys skipped the design stage and went straight to the typewriter. It is extremely unfocused. Lots of unnecessary spelling errors. Explainations are short and unfinished. Essentially, there's the possibility of a thousand-page-well-written book butchered to fit 196 pages. I'm sorry I bought this book. Go to the website, its better. Fusebox is a perfect candidate for O'Reilly to publish. Maybe O'Reilly will come up with something better.
Rating:  Summary: Fusebox Good, This Book Bad Review: Fusebox is an amazing methodology. But the book is aweful. These guys skipped the design stage and went straight to the typewriter. It is extremely unfocused. Lots of unnecessary spelling errors. Explainations are short and unfinished. Essentially, there's the possibility of a thousand-page-well-written book butchered to fit 196 pages. I'm sorry I bought this book. Go to the website, its better. Fusebox is a perfect candidate for O'Reilly to publish. Maybe O'Reilly will come up with something better.
Rating:  Summary: Interesting Methodology, but this Book is Out of Date Review: Reading through this book, I didn't realize that it was for the 2.0 version of this methodology. Version 3.01 is out now and is dramatically different from 2.0--almost to the point where this book is unusable. However, it did help me understand what Fusebox is all about, which I was able to apply to the 3.0 version. I recommend waiting till the authors update their book to the 3.0 version of fusebox. ...
Rating:  Summary: A Waste of Pulp Review: The FuseBox methodology, and this so called "book" which describes it, tries so hard to make components of even the simplest ColdFusion application fit within the analogy of a household circuit, the authors almost forget what it is they're talking about. The "FuseBox" in this case is the index.cfm file. The "circuits" are the pages that get piped through it. And that's pretty much where the analogy ends. It's almost as if they came up with the name and then tried to come up with a methodology to fit it. I remember when beer had that effect on me. I mean, come on, these guys act like they INVENTED piping content through a central template (Yes folks, that's the "FuseBox" in this analogy). The also act like they invented organizing files according to that particular file's task. Sorry guys, it was being done long before you were around. And that four hundred line Switch statement that FuseBox encourages within the index.cfm file? That's clunkier than bag of rocks. Even Ben Forta has criticized this aspect of FuseBox. As far as content goes, "Fusebox : Methodology & Techniques" is 90% fluff. The first chapters of the book are blatantly self promoting. What's worse is that the authors talk about themselves in these sections in the third person, as though they were somehow interesting. At a couple of points, the authors briefly gloss over project management (as though they invented that, too), and that brief encounter may be the better part of this book. Unfortunately, this topic has little to do with FuseBox. Good planning doesn't benefit a developer who adheres to FuseBox standards any more than it does a developer who plans any project well. I also think it's pretty funny that somebody (Jim Conte) actually took credit for "Illustrating" this book. Hell, Jim, if I can classify myself an illustrator by using a little clip-art, I'm in for a bright future! And the stuff you drew by hand? Priceless. It's tough drawing a concentric circle with a mouse, huh? FuseBox, as a methodology, was designed by a couple of illiterate ninnies (as a quick reading of Steve Nelson's "White Paper" will attest) who don't know very much about electricity. While any methodology is better than none, and while FuseBox has caught on in a mild way despite it's crippling simplicity, there are far better methodologies out there than this one. That said, anyone still interested in learning this methodology (and then wisely altering it to meet their needs) can learn what they need by reading documentation that is available for free in many places. I can't see too many reasons to drop (price)on this one. By the way, Steve and Craig, the kind of fuse boxes alluded to throughout this book are against electrical code in most states. They've been deemed UNSAFE. You should have called this methodology BreakerPanel, or better yet, PoopBox.
Rating:  Summary: A good start to Fusebox Review: This book is an expansion of the Fusebox specifications and will get someone up and running with the methodology.
Rating:  Summary: This book rocks the rocking horse! Review: This book rocks the rocking horse!
Rating:  Summary: A waste of a review Review: This is more in response to the review 'a waste of pulp' than anything. 1) "tries so hard to make components of even the simplest ColdFusion application fit within the analogy of a household circuit" response: To hold the methodology so rigorously to the name is silly. 2) "I remember when beer had that effect on me." response: This actually makes no sense whatsoever. 3) "I mean, come on, these guys act like they INVENTED piping content through a central template." response: Actually Fusebox is modeled after a 'MAIN' file in languages like C++ and JAVA. The authors make no claim to have invented this style, only transported it to web programming. 4) "And that four hundred line Switch statement that FuseBox encourages within the index.cfm file? That's clunkier than bag of rocks. Even Ben Forta has criticized this aspect of FuseBox." response: If you are making your switch statements 400 lines long, your doing it wrong. 5) FuseBox, as a methodology, was designed by a couple of illiterate ninnies...who don't know very much about electricity." response: Do the authors have to understand electricity to make a web methodology? 6) "While any methodology is better than none, and while FuseBox has caught on in a mild way despite it's crippling simplicity." response: Actually Fusebox has caught on in a BIG way and its simplicity is to credit for it. Who is it that stated programming has to be difficult? 6) "...the kind of fuse boxes alluded to throughout this book are against electrical code in most states. They've been deemed UNSAFE." response: This matters why? The word "analogy" means "Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar." If you wanna learn about electricity read a book about electricity. For a level headed review read "A reasonable introduction."
Rating:  Summary: Fusebox Review: Well if you own the old one like I did and won it at a CF meeting than its ok , but if you had to pay for it , its not worth the paper its written on. The grammatical errors and spelling is enough to return the book, let alone the people that did a half A__ job of completing everything in the book, too many open holes.
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