A couple of weeks ago I started playing around with Mach-II. I haven't been able to devote much time to working with it, mainly just at home at night and on the weekends, but so far I'm really liking what I see. I've never really used a framework before. Years ago I tried to fool around with Fusebox some (version 2 or 3, I think), but that didn't last long. I took a look at Model-Glue once too, but that didn't last long either. By them not lasting long, I mean a few hours at the most. Not that there was anything wrong with either of those frameworks, but at that time I just didn't understand frameworks or what they were for. I would download them, look at a few examples, scratch my head, and delete them. I just didn't get it.

Not too long ago I started using ColdSpring on a project, and I really like it. I knew that most of the CF frameworks have the ability to natively interact with ColdSpring, so that sparked my interest and I decided to give the frameworks another try. I've got a pretty big side project coming up soon, so I decided to pick a framework and build this application using it. After asking around and reading up on the various frameworks, I decided to go with Mach-II. Again, not that there's anything wrong with any of the other frameworks, but I personally know a few developers who use Mach-II and really like it. That was my main deciding factor. There's something to be said for being able to go sit down at someone's desk and ask them questions or show them code face-to-face. If I'm going to start using a framework, I may as well start with the one where I have the most resources and the best opportunity to learn.

One of the things that really surprised me about Mach-II was just how easy it was to get it set up and start using it. I guess I had this misconception that frameworks were complicated and hard to use, especially for a beginner. Not so. Installation was as easy as downloading/unzipping Mach-II, and creating a CF mapping called "MachII" (not that this step is even required, I just chose to go this route). I then downloaded/unzipped the skeleton application (also found on the Mach-II download page), and I was off and running with Mach-II.

I then found a couple of great beginner tutorials on the Mach-II site. These really helped me out. They're quick, easy to follow and understand, and do an excellent job of showing you the basics and teaching you how everything works in Mach-II. I highly recommend these as first steps for any new Mach-II user. I was able to go through both of them in about a half-hour, and they really gave me a jump start on the core of building a Mach-II application.

NOTE: While the tutorials mentioned above are great, they are a little outdated. They still make reference to Application.cfm and the cfapplication tag, which have been replaced by Application.cfc in the newer versions of Mach-II. They also reference specific line numbers in the mach-ii.xml file that are no longer correct. Despite that, it's still very easy to follow these tutorials and anyone with basic CF knowledge shouldn't have a problem.

And that's it. I was able to download/install Mach-II and have my first Mach-II test application up and running in less than an hour with the help of the skeleton app and the Mach-II tutorials. This will by no means make you a master of Mach-II, but it will teach you some of the core fundamentals and show you everything you need to know to build a basic Mach-II application of your own.