A Quick Web Overview; What You Should Already Know - MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION 4.5-DEVELOPING WEB Develop Manual

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A Quick Web Overview

Over the last few years, the Web has changed from being simply a collection of static
HTML pages to an application development platform. Rather than offering a space
where organizations can merely advertise goods and services, similar to traditional
yellow pages directories, companies conduct business ranging from ecommerce to
managing internal business processes. For example, a static HTML page would allow a
bookstore to publish its location, list services such as the ability to place special orders,
and advertise upcoming events like book signings. A dynamic site for the same
bookstore would allow customers to order books online, write reviews of books they've
read, and even get suggestions for purchasing books based on their reading
preferences.
ColdFusion is a rapid application development environment that lets you build
dynamic sites. You can use the Web to handle business transactions, and even to
conduct the day to day business of your organization.

What You Should Already Know

Before you begin using ColdFusion to create your Web applications, you should be
familiar with the following topics:
HTML
You'll find that ColdFusion tags (CFML) are similar in syntax to HTML tags, yet, unlike
HTML, they enable you to create dynamic Web pages. You should understand how to
create a basic HTML page, put information into tables, gather data in forms, and create
links.
Relational Database Design and Management
If you plan on creating applications that use data from existing data sources, you
should understand how the data is organized. In most cases, this means
understanding how tables are organized to prevent unnecessary duplication of data.
For example, if you have data about employees, rather than repeating the department
number and name in each employee's record, you would most likely have a separate
table that lists each department number and name just once.
SQL
Familiarity with some Structured Query Language (SQL) will be helpful as you develop
your ColdFusion applications. In particular, you should be able to use the SELECT,
UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements, as well as WHERE clauses and boolean
logic operators.
Developing Web Applications with ColdFusion