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The "Learning Flex From Scratch" series written by Adam Flater and Scott Sheridan, aims to help not only a Flex novice, but also a programming novice jump into the world of creating Rich Internet Applications using Flex. The installments of the series will cover everything from installing the Flex Builder I.D.E., to some background information on object-oriented programming. You'll even get to learn about advanced topics like source control and design patterns (a la Cairngorm) from the perspective of a beginner.
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Meet Adam Flater
Adam Flater is a Software Architect at Universal Mind. His background is in working with java and Microsoft technologies, building both web and desktop applications. He has been working in Flex user interface and server development since the beta release of Flex 2.0. Adam was the lead developer on the ActionScript SDK for eBay's Web Services used in the eBay Desktop application. In 2007 Adam presented at Fig Leaf's Flex Maniacs in D.C., The eBay Developer's conference in Boston, 360Flex in Seattle, Adobe's OnAir Bus Tour in D.C., and Adobe's MAX Conference in Chicago. Adam is also co-creator of the former Artemis project and the current Merapi project, a java bridge to flash at the desktop.
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Adam will serve as technical editor and mentor on this project. He will lead the direction on the appropriate topics to cover as well as the technical correctness of the samples and scope of each post.
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Meet Scott Sheridanﾠ
Scott Sheridan is an aspiring web developer with interest in Adobe's Flex platform. Attracted to the intellectual and creative challenges offered as a programmer, he hopes to one day possess the skills to contribute meaningful and innovative code to the web community. Scott's academic background is in Psychology, with an emphasis on the research of visual sensory memory. In addition, he is a certified Yoga instructor with eight years teaching experience, and a professional musician. Scott was chosen as a freelance developer to create sites for the Wisconsin Weights and Measures Association, The Driftless Farm CSA (an organic farm in South Western Wisconsin), and for Roald Gundersen Design's green building project.
Throughout the series Scott will be learning to become a Flex developer. The topics covered will mirror his experiences along the way.
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Meet Flexﾠ
Flex is a collection of technologies created by Adobe Systems. A Flex application is deployed through the Flash Player, a plug-in available for all major browsers used to play Flash content (swf files). The Flash Player has recently been introduced to the desktop through Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR).ﾠ
Anyone that's learning to program in any environment will quickly discover that the amount of vernacular associated with programming is seemingly endless. It's important for us to cover a few terms that will come up soon in our series. So, jumping right in...
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Integrated Development Environment (IDE) - An application purpose is for creating software. The IDE that we will be using to create Flex demo applications is the Eclipse based Flex Builder.
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Framework - In our series we'll be looking at two of these. One is the Flex Framework, a collection of classes written for Flex used to create Flex applications. The other is an application framework. An application framework is a collection of design patterns that give a guideline on creating software.
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Rich Internet Application - A web-based application that includes many features of a traditional desktop application. This is a loose definition, but also a bit of a buzzword. The relevance here is that Flex can be used as a replacement of simple web technologies to create web sites, but the potential for Flex is to create web applications. This distinction will become more clear in later posts.
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In the next post, Flex Defined, Adam and Scott define some terms that every Flex developer needs to understand. They'll touch upon the languages used in the Flex development environment, and explain the role of the Flash player in the deployment of a Flex application.
Next: LFFS - 2: Flex Defined