Macromedia Coldfusion MX 7 Guides

Does anyone here have experience with coldfusion MX 7? The reason I am asking is because I have a few questions on coldfusion.

Can coldfusion support other scripts such as javascript and php or does it only use CFML?

how good is the performance and what other languages and scripts are supported by coldfusion MX7?

also could someone plz tell me, for a beginner to coldfusion mx 7, which is the most suitable guide to start off with?

I came across 3 books by macromedia coldfusion mx 7 which are listed below.
1)Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Certified Developer Study Guide
2)Advanced Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Application Development
3)Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit (Web Application Construction Kit)
what is the purpose of each book?

The reason I want to learn coldfusion is mainly to develop e-commerce websites which would include shopping carts, database connections, image upload, sending e-mail through application etc. So i need a book that guides me through the basics of creating these applications.

Also I read on a few sites that coldfusion is very simple to use compared to other programming languages since it is very similar to HTML. so what is coldfusion compared to with javascript/php/asp etc?