| A development methodology is simply a documented set of procedures and guidelines that are used when building an application. These can be things like directory structure, file-naming conventions, and application flow. Development methodologies are not necessarily specific to ColdFusion; they can be used when building any type of application. Later in this section I list a few methodologies that have evolved around ColdFusion application development. Why use a development methodology at all? Have you ever tried to work on a web site or application that you wrote some time ago? It's hard enough trying to figure out what you were thinking a year and a half ago, but now imagine that someone else wrote the code. You've got next to no hope of figuring out what the person was trying to do. This is where development methodologies can help. If a developer (yourself or someone else) is following a certain methodology when he creates an application, the application is much easier to figure out later on. If you are familiar with a certain methodology, you should quickly be able to figure out and work on any application that has been created using that methodology. Following a methodology also helps those who are new to application development. It helps crystallize in their mind what functionality the application will have and serves to guide them in the layout and creation of the application. The following are several popular methodologies used with ColdFusion: | Fusebox | www.fusebox.org (see Figure 6) | | CfObjects | www.cfobjects.com | | BlackBox | www.cfblackbox.org | | SmartObjects | www.smart-objects.com | | Switch_box | www.switch-box.org |
Figure 6. The Fusebox web site.  As you can see, there is a lot more to ColdFusion MX than we have covered in this book. ColdFusion is a powerful, yet simple, environment to create state-of-the-art web applications, and you can continue to learn new ColdFusion tricks as long as you have the desire. For more tips, tricks, and tutorials, visit the www.LearnColdFusionMX.com web site. | 
