I work in the financial industry as a developer and not that the financial industry has any greater implementation of XML than any other, but web applications that utilize back office processing for loan applications, or new account opening processes, or retail internet banking applications all to some extent make calls to a host. Many times it’s a DB2 database, and many times some other process that returns account information or validation information in xml format.

At one point or another, whether it’s an enterprise level website, or one of your own, you’re going to have the burning desire to see how you can take advantage of what XML can do for your applications.

ColdFusion doesn’t seem to get the respect it deserves amongst the dedicated Java or .NET or even PHP development circles, but having worked in all of those environments, I’d like to state for the record, that completing a large scale development project AHEAD of schedule, keeping your Business Managers and Projects Managers happy, and let’s not forget the most important of all…

Fusion Authority has published an interesting editorial by Hal Helms, scheduled for inclusion in FAQU 3.

Chalk this up to the “I can’t believe you never saw this before” file.

I’ve seen a few comments about the cost of CFUNITED and the earlybird closing date. In the past, it’s not been something I’ve paid much attention to because I’ve always attended as a speaker and always gotten all my material in on time so TeraTech comps the fee and the hotel. If you don’t get your act together as a speaker, they still comp the conference but you pay for your hotel!

So – in case folks are curious – I now have both a dishwasher and the Internet back at my house. I feel like I’ve returned to the modern world. (Yes, I’m spoiled.)

This should be an eye opener to many. In September Mitre reported that web application vulnerabilities are claiming the top three spots on their CVE request list, beating out Buffer Overflows.