setting a dynamic variable name
This is probably known to many, but you can set a variable with a dynamic name. I've only come across one or two instances in ten years where this is necessary. Those times have always been to quickly fix existing code and remove hard-coding of variable names.
There's always 10 ways to get to the same destination with programming, and I usually don't take this one. However, it is an option, so I'm demonstrating it here.
An example is perhaps when you need to set a variable for each student (Mark_classes, Tom_classes), and then assign a value to that new variable. This can be done with the code below:
<cfoutput query="myQuery">
<cfset "#myQuery.Name#_classes" = myQuery.numberOfClasses>
</cfoutput>
<cfset "#myQuery.Name#_classes" = myQuery.numberOfClasses>
</cfoutput>
Just be sure to put the quotes around the dynamic variable name.
[cfset variables[myQuery.Name & "_classes"] = myQuery.numberOfClasses /]
Well it's more verbose, I think it's more clear. It's also an officially supported method of dynamically naming variables. The other benefit is this method works for both setting and getting variables.