Viewing by month: August 2011
Cool Stuff with the Flash Platform - 8/30/2011
Posted on Aug 30, 2011
Between tremors and tropical storms, I ended up being a few days late assembling this on a very busy week, which means this week's post is chock full of great content from over forty different posts.
With the release of Flex/Flash Builder 4.5 and the 4.5.1 update a few months in the rear view, Adobe's Group Product Manager for Developer Tools, Andrew Shorten, shares Adobe's vision of the future of Flex. This includes expanding the mobile capabilities and deepening the commitment to the enterprise. This includes understanding where Flex is the best solution and where it isn't but combating FUD. Adobe evangelist Michael Chaize shares his perspective on Andrew's post as well as opens discussion on the future of the Flex charting components, including a user survey.
Continue Reading →Cool Stuff with the Flash Platform - 8/19/2011
Posted on Aug 19, 2011
This was a very busy one. In particular it featured a number of tutorials from within Adobe and the evangelism team covering new features in AIR 3 beta that was recently released on Labs. However, there were a ton of other tutorials, code samples and open source projects covering a wider than normal variety of topic areas.
One of the things that is great about the Flash and Flex community is the diversity not only in personality and background but in professional experience and training. This is made all the more clear by Sean Moore's recent series of interviews with Flash/Flex community members including Jonathan Campos, Joseph Labrecque, Doug Winnie and many more.
Continue Reading →Cool Stuff with the Flash Platform - 8/11/2011
Posted on Aug 11, 2011
The headline this week was the release of the AIR 3 Beta and Flash Player 11 Beta for desktop, as detailed by Adobe evangelist Mihai Corlan. If you would like to take advantage of the new features in AIR 3, Adobe's Christian Cantrell shows you how to use the AIR 3 Beta SDK within Flash Builder.
Another announcement worth noting is Holly Schinsky discussing the newest beta release of the AIR Launchpad. This was already one of my favorite tools for helping people get started with AIR mobile and desktop development and this release will only make it better.
Continue Reading →Dealing with Developer Anxiety
Posted on Aug 04, 2011
I was reading a post by Jesse Warden this morning which was, as is typical of Jesse, very thoughtful and thought provoking. While the title made it seem like it was all about Corona, it really, in my mind, was as much about the past, present and future of Flash and Flex. Rapid changes in technology and outside pressures (which I won't get into) have Flash and Flex developers understandably anxious. This post isn't really about the future of Flash or Flex but rather about that sense of anxiousness. It is something I am very familiar with throughout my career as a developer (heck, ColdFusion developers seemed to deal with it on a daily basis for years). Instead, this post is about three things:
- How can we, at Adobe, mitigate some of this anxiety?
- How can I, as an Adobe employee with a focus on the Flash and Flex community, help address some of the issues leading to that anxiety?
- My own strategies that have worked in navigating times of high-anxiety.
Keep in mind that while I am an Adobe employee, this post is my own opinion and ideas and not expressing an officially endorsed by my employer. Let me start with the last item first though. These strategies may seem obvious but they have helped me in the past.
Continue Reading →Cool Stuff with the Flash Platform - 8/3/2011
Posted on Aug 03, 2011
Another busy week of Flash Platform posts including quite a few sample applications and detailed tutorials. While it is not actually focused on the Flash Platform, this week's release of Adobe Edge has surely impacted Flash developers as it continues to be the focus of public discussion surrounding the future of the platform. Obviously, many of these items seem to be agenda driven, but others, like those from Mashable and The New York Times seem, to me, to be more level-headed in their discussion of the impact upon the Flash Platform and Flash developers.
On a side note, sorry for the delay on this week's edition but I was fighting a malfunctioning laptop.
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