effectiveUI, Inc.
Copyright © 2007 O'Reilly Media, Inc.
August 30, 2007
Abstract
Evaluating any new technology can be a challenge. This Short Cut is designed to help web application developers (and their team managers) decide if Flex is the right technology for their company or client. Although the authors of this book have a strong understanding of the Flex framework, this isn’t a sales pitch for Flex. The authors believe that Flex is a good tool to solve many business problems, but it is not a cure-all.
After reading this material, you’ll know what’s good about Rich Internet Applications. You’ll know the capabilities of Flex 2, how Flex works, and how much it costs. We’ll tell you about the challenges you’ll face in developing with Flex, and show you the steps you’ll take to create and deploy a Flex 2 application.
As the President of effectiveUI, I have the unique opportunity to listen to how companies like eBay, Ford, Random House, Viacom, GE, and NBC think about the Internet and desktop software. I get to see firsthand how people combine original ideas with innovative technology to completely change the way a company conducts business.
That’s what we do at effectiveUI. We work with companies large and
small to strategize, design, and develop Rich Internet and Web 2.0
applications. Five years ago, “Rich Internet Application” (RIA) seemed
like any another buzzword. But we took it seriously. In fact, we built our
business model around RIA technology. Our mission says it all: we create
interfaces people want to use.
Evaluating any new technology can be a challenge. This O’Reilly Short Cut is designed to help you understand if Flex is the right technology for your company. Although the authors of this book have a strong understanding of the Flex framework, it’s not a sales pitch. We believe that Flex is a good tool to solve many business problems, but it’s not a cure-all.
After reading this O’Reilly Short Cut, you should understand:
What’s good about Rich Internet Applications.
The capabilities of Flex 2.
How Flex works.
How much Flex costs.
The challenges you’ll face using Flex.
How simple it is to create and deploy a Flex 2 application.
Flex is a free, open source platform and component library for developing applications that can be deployed on the ubiquitous Flash Player. When you think of Flash, you may think of the player or the Flash development IDE. Flex is just another way of creating Flash content. But that’s not all. Flex is specifically geared toward building robust Rich Internet Applications. The libraries and coding methodologies are designed to bridge the gap for “traditional” developers (Java, C++, .Net) to Flash Player deployed applications.