Sunday morning and football usually rings true in my household but this morning brings me away from the television (what is the world coming to) and into a sports bar. I know where you think this is going but actually I am sitting around a room of fellow web developers and designers at the CFUnderground conference. Some really cool items were handed out during registration like a limited edition CFUnderground t-shirt, logo emblazon beer mug and from Adobe a cool usb light/fan combo.

First glance around the room would think we were waiting for a blind date in a dark bar, the only exception being the tables laden with laptops and a hugh Adobe banner hanging on the wall. The first announcement was that unfortunately Simon Horwith would not be available to speak on "Putting Bread On The Table - Improving Your Marketability" but would be available later for the Q&A session.

Session 1: Understanding Database Performance

Very interesting discussion on indexing, query plans and optimization. The availability of database interaction between ColdFusion and some tools to help monitor the performance like SeeFusion. I consider myself pretty database proficient and discovered a few interesting factoids.

• Too many joins effect performance and will result in table scans regardless of indexes being used.
• Use Union's instead of a global "OR" statement when filtering on multiple columns.
• Watch out for merge joins in query plans (these are a red flag for performance).

Session 2: Top notch testing techniques

Discussion on various testing techniques, the importance of performing testing and tools like CFUNIT. Just a sample of techniques discussed included:

• Unit testing
• Integration testing
• Regression testing
• Acceptance testing

Session 3: Troubleshooting and Optimizing CFMX Performance

Discussion of tuning your ColdFusion applications from a JRUN platform. Various topics included:

• JVM tuning
• Threads and garbage collection
• Memory leaks

Session 4: Object Oriented ColdFusion

A discussion on Object Oriented terms and definitions surrounding CFCs, the different ways to instantiate a component and how to invoke methods. Topics included:

• Instantiation.
• Encapsulation.
• 3 ways to invoke a class and it's methods.

Session 5: Confessions of a CF Assassin

Why projects fail and why you already know how to resolve the issues but just don't know you know the answers. A interesting discussion on small to large scale projects and such topics as cross-side scripting, sql injection and self introduced errors that just shouldn't be there and can easily be fixed with a little thought and consideration when developing. Topics included:

• How to recognize you have a problem
• Case studies and examples of application failure
• Security, performance and maintainability

Session 6: ColdFusion Q&A

Panel of 4 including Jason Delmore Product Manager for ColdFusion at Adobe Systems Incorporated share with us upcoming ColdFusion 8 features, the always heated framework discussion and general questions and answers of anything and everything ColdFusion.

CFUnderground

Tomorrow is Sunday and instead of watching the obligatory football game and wondering if my fantasy football player is going to score, I will be attending CFUnderground.

With such great topics as: "Confessions of a CF Assasin" to "Understanding Database Performance" what else could you ask for.

We'll it does take pace at the Beach Nightclub in the best party town in the U.S. - LAS VEGAS!!! I guess that means not only can I geek out but I can still grab a beer and watch a game.

There will be great presenter the likes of Simon Horwith and Michael Smith just to mention a few. If you get a chance please stop by and enjoy a great Sunday of ColdFusion, Football and a prelude to the MAX conference at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino.

Mini-MAX

The party before the party. Mini-MAX is being held right after the CFUnderground conference and is a great chance to meet and greet fellow geeks before the MAX conference starts on Monday.

Join dataTV's Adam Bell, Adobe's Scott Fegette, Humber College's Tom Green, AboutWeb's Simon Horwith, 086 Studios' Todd Sanders and Community MX's Stephanie Sullivan for the prelude to the Adobe MAX Conference on Sunday Night, October 22th at 7PM PT at the The Beach Nightclub in Las Vegas, NV.

Stop by and say hello to me or Stephanie and ask about Community MX for a free trial to a great resource of knowledge, articles and forum advice.

I will be blogging more from CFUnderground, Mini-MAX and the MAX conference in days to come. Hope to see everyone there.