Joe of clearsoftware posted a reply on his blog to a post of mine about oo a while back when I was struggling to figure out how it would all work in a cms, and what the real benefits are. Once again, I want to thank Joe for taking his time to comment and reply to my post. I also want to point out that there was a lengthy conversation with Sean Corfield through email that helped me to understand a lot of things as well. I had intended to post it, but just haven't yet. The main thing that I think needs to be pointed out is that there is obviously a rift forming between those that "get" oo and those that haven't gotten it yet. Jared Rypka-Hauer has noticed this and I agree with him that correct terminology needs to be used. I agree with everything he says in that post, but the fact is there is a big gap that a lot of people seem to be having trouble crossing. Maybe its a lack of documentation, maybe its a lack of books, maybe its simply a lack of people using the right words, I don't know. All I know is my only objective in all of this is to get my head around this stuff to make me more productive, and also to be able to teach others what I have learned. I try to take time to look through forums and blogs and boards and help where I can. And OO is obviously growing. Its almost like were talking two different languages here. and all we really need is a translator. Maybe its just a need for more examples. I believe syntax is one of the biggest part of the battles. I can't tell you how many times I have looked at some part of an example to go, "ohh, you can do that? Well that changes everything..." At the end of the day, Im not sure what needs to be done, or where I need to go. My new cms is definately going to be a learning experience I know that much. And if you keep on reading my blog, I'll let you know what I learn along the way.

Now if I can ever get someone to read this that knows what theyre talking about and uses OOP in their web apps then Ill be doing good. Here's my deal. I understand OOP. Okay guys, let me rephrase that, I understand the concepts of OOP, I understand its reasoning behind it, I understand about beans and data access objects, and objects, polymorphism, inheritance, all that. What I don't understand is how that applies to basic web applications. For instance a Content Management System. Let me explain my misunderstandings. continue reading...

Maybe I really am in a minority here, but somehow I doubt it. There are all kinds of people out there, especially lately in the coldfusion community talking about oo. I feel like I have a pretty strong grasp on the basic OO principles and ideas, like encapsulation, polymorphisms, inheritance and the like. My main problem is that these things aren't directly applicable to my projects. Let me explain. continue reading...