Non Tech Guy

"It works! Ha ha, IT WORKS! I FINALLY build something that works!"

Back in a Flash

Unknown 03:40 , , 1 comment
I recently discovered a company that still requires the services of Adobe AIR Developers. What a relief! Most people believe the reports of flash's sudden death but unlike Elvis, flash has not quite left the building. It may have been relegated down into the basement but I still think that this is an exciting time for flash developers.

So what happened?
The hit went out on flash player in the browser and probably rightly so. There were loads of poorly written code examples on the web causing browsers to crash. With all the new bells and whistles mobile for IOS and Android is a very real and exciting prospect for Action Script 3 developers. If only the non-believers would also get onboard.

Didn't I just say that flash doesn't run or IOS devices... That's not exactly what I said but thats kinda the point of writing this post, because that is what the majority of people hear. Flash player does not run in a browser on IOS mobile devices but you can still use your flash skills and write Air applications for mobile devices but more on that in a minute.

What are the new bells and whistles you ask?

Stage3D allows access to the device GPU which frees up the CPU to perform the bigger tasks. MultiTouch and Gesture support allow for user experiences that have become expected by everyone using a touch device. Things like pinch, zoom, rotate and no longer nice to haves on multi touch devices. Starling, FeathersUI, nape and box2d are just a few of many engines available as well as a host of frameworks to help developers create apps and games. If you are a developer and looking for ways to better structure your code have a look at Robot legs and pureMVC.

What is the difference between AIR and Flash?

Thats a good question and one that is most likely not understood outside the developer community but here is the short answer. Both use ActionScript 3.0, thats cool! Flash creates a swf file that can be run independently or in a browser on the web and AIR creates a file that can be installed locally on the users machine. 

So AIR runs on the desktop and Flash runs on the web?

For the purposes of this post I am going to say that it 88% correct and lets leave it there. I did say that a swf can also be run independently but we are onto a good thing so lets not create more confusion than is absolutely necessary. The bigger difference is between Flex and Flash developers who can both develop IOS, Android, desktop and multi touch applications. All you really need to know here is that Flex is specifically aimed at application development and requires a developer to know MXML. 

What is MXML?
If you have to ask then you wont understand the answer. Besides my explanation would really start showing up the cracks in my armour and create more confusion which is what we are trying to avoid, right? 

The story doesn't end here though there is now a browser on the iStore called Puffin that does support flash player. Puffin disagree that mobile browsers can't handle the burden of flash player and claim that through remote flash execution technology you can watch videos and play games.

I know what you are thinking WTF is going on here? Welcome to my world!









1 comment :

  1. Anonymous28 March 2014 at 06:45

    whenever I need help online, I just plug in my question and sure as hell, there will have been someone, who took the time out of their day, to distil and share their knowledge, technical or otherwise, for the benefit of all...we need more voices

    ReplyDelete

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