Superbreak allows journalist to interview their senior website developer

Superbreak's Travel Website Senior Developer Dave Spurr was interviewed by a top online journalist - here were the questions and answers:

Tell me a little about your current role?
I am the Senior Web Developer for Superbreak Mini Holidays, which encompasses architecting and developing the core software, providing support & guidance for the other developers & web designers within the team and managing the projects and development of all our sites including Superbreak and Hotelnet.

Tell me a little about your background prior to working as a travel industry web developer?
I studied Multimedia Technology at University with the aim to be involved in 3D animation to some degree. Once I completed the degree I produced a short 3D animation over a year and did some freelance web development work using PHP and web standards.

What websites are you currently responsible for developing?
The entire Superbreak portfolio of sites, this includes about 7 core major web applications including our hotel affiliate program application and our XML API.

What technologies do you work with and what are the pros and cons of these technologies?
We use Coldfusion as the core programming language within Superbreak, as well as the standard web related languages (XML, CSS, xHTML, JavaScript etc.). Each language has its own pros and cons which have been discussed in great depth by lots of people already. With regards to Coldfusion, when I first started at Superbreak (coming from a PHP background) I disliked Coldfusion but once you get used to its idiosyncrasies (just like any other language) then it's actually quite powerful.

Do you use any 'Web 2.0' applications, and why?
I use things that people would put under the "Web 2.0" umbrella, such as TadaList, Google Maps and Google Calendar and I use them because I find them handy or especially good at what they do. Apart from Google Maps the other two could have all their "Web 2.0" technologies removed and be just as valuable to me.

What are your three favourite blogs and why?
Mine, because it gives me an outlet to share my thoughts & work, but my site has always been that way before the term 'blog' came around.

Sean Corfield's as he has the best development blog I have come across and has some great information of Coldfusion, Mach-ii and other related technologies.

I have 78 individual feeds in my RSS aggregator at the moment and the rest of the blogs in there (about 90%) all rate about the same level in terms of favourites, with the standouts being The Sneeze, Meyerweb and Mossyblog.

About Superbreak:
Superbreak short breaks is the internet division of Superbreak Mini Holidays Limited, the market leader for short breaks throughout the UK. Superbreak is part of Holiday break plc, a publicly quoted leisure company whose share price can be found in most major UK newspapers.

Based in York, England, Superbreak specialises in booking 2-5 star hotel accommodation throughout Britain for the leisure traveller. Superbreak hold allocations of rooms at all hotels and we can book up to and including the day of departure.

Submitted by:
Michael Hanna

About Michael
Michael is a keen writer, and internet marketer living in Scotland:

Contact details:
E-mail: samqam@googlemail.com
Phone: 0131 561 2251