Jozza.net

Technologies

I have been developing applications, mainly for the web, since 1997. In this time I have worked in a wide range of environments, been exposed to a large number of technologies, and have delivered a wide range of creations serving a diverse range of purposes. I like to consider myself as technology agnostic; while the languages or underlying platforms may be different, the concepts remain the same and only the limitations change.

Technologies I've worked with are listed here, ordered by the amount of work I've done with them. I'll hope to provide some examples within here as well.

HTML

I've worked with HTML for so long that it has become second nature. I primarily work with HTML 4.0 Transitional but have worked with XHTML and Strict implementations. The arrival of HTML5 shows some exciting developments, but until it is widely supported I prefer to work with HTML 4.0 and use JavaScript, Flash, and browser specific CSS to fill the gaps.

JavaScript

I've worked with JavaScript for almost as long as I've worked with HTML. To me, JavaScript serves only one purpose and that is to make the user experience interesting. I'm a firm believer that complex logic is best left to server-side processing and if AJAX is to be used it is to enable complex logic to be abstracted so that all the script has to do is show the end result.

Having worked with numerous frameworks, my framework of choice is jQuery, as it has the largest support base and a wide range of well-polished plugins.

CSS

I've been working with CSS since 2003, and I don't know why I wasn't working with it earlier. To this day I am still discovering new tricks that show you can do anything with CSS. Table layouts are gladly a thing of the past. You can look at this website or any of the websites I have created and find consistently good, standards-based CSS.

ColdFusion

ColdFusion has been a staple for most of my career. Whilst I'm always getting into new technologies, I keep returning to ColdFusion. Perhaps it's because it is such a flexible language, yet it is well structured and much simpler and faster to develop with than other technologies. However I feel that I'm part of a small number of people still holding onto this language for dear life. I've said it over and over again that Adobe only support the technology and have ceased to improve it as a platform, which is a real shame.

I am a certified advanced ColdFusion MX7 developer, more information on my qualifications here. I have been part of countless websites written in ColdFusion. I've also translated websites from other platforms such as PHP and ASP.Net to create faster and more stable implementations in ColdFusion

I also have a great amount of experience optimising servers and optimising code. The end effect is that the websites I build are fast and scale well.

FarCry

I've developed a few CMS' in my time, and have worked with numerous more CMS' developed in ColdFusion, however I feel FarCry finds a good balance between satisfying it's developers with it's flexibility and satisfying end-users with usability. I don't believe in just using FarCry as a CMS, I think it has great potential as a platform for developing other applications; I have written a wide range from internal reporting and workflow systems to ecommerce and secured subscription based systems.

I have also written a couple of plugins for FarCry:

ASP.Net

I started learning ASP.Net out of fear that ColdFusion was dead. As part of my learning I am a qualified technical specialist and a qualified web developer in the platform (click here for my qualifications). I quite like .Net and the conventions it uses, I also like the pragmatic approach of C# and it's resemblance to structured languages such as Java. I've worked with .Net in many ways, from simple forms based web applications to full websites made in DotNetNuke and Communifire, and my favourite CMS, Sitecore.

Websites I have worked on include the following:

Sitecore

As said previously, Sitecore is my favourite CMS of all time, mainly due to it's rock solid API, implementation of XSL stylesheets, flexibility for developers, and a very easy to use front-end for users. Only problem is it's extreme cost, which is justified considering the value you get. I've developed numerous systems from the ground-up in Sitecore and have impressed colleagues and customers with the final architecture.

Sitecore websites I have worked on include

PHP

I've been playing around with PHP for a few years now, mainly because it's a fun language to write in, is relatively fast and stable. I've developed a file-based CMS, StructureCMS using the platform and found that it fits well. I've worked on numerous PHP websites on a professional basis, including those using platforms such as CakePHP and Moodle. While PHP is great to work with I have found that there are too many apps out there written on a "that'll do" basis - unfortunately while they may impress customers at first, they turn into nightmares later, and unfortunately that is usually when I get involved. I hope one day to end the plague that is half-written PHP apps.

Some examples of my PHP work include:

SQL Server

I've worked with SQL Server right from the beginning, not just in development, but also server setup, security, maintenance and optimisation.

MySQL

I've worked with MySQL 4/5 in both Linux and windows. I prefer the command-line oriented approach in MySQL, but find it lacking in overall finish compared to SQL Server. But it is a good match for PHP.

Linux

I've worked with Linux for a while, using Ubuntu as a development environment and in the last couple of years moving to Mac. I'm pretty knowledgeable on Apache and ColdFusion Configuration, as well as networking (SSH, rsync)

Windows

Like most people in the industry I have a long background of working with windows environments, both server and workstation. I have a great deal of experience in IIS and ColdFusion configuration, as well as networking (Active Directory, Server Security), and troubleshooting user issues.