September Primer – Introduction to Flex
This month we’re going to do an introduction to Flex. Flex is a developer technology created, and open-sourced, by Adobe that allows creating Flash-based applications in a very similar paradigm to traditional web-based applications. The goal of Flex is to supplement these technologies and provide the user with a richer experience while simplifying the complexities of working within the context of the browser. At a high level, working with Flex entails creating components using a combination of MXML, an XML dialect, and ActionScript, a language very similar to JavaScript. Those resources are then compiled into a Flash movie and, typically, loaded into the browser via HTML.
Our goal for this meeting is to orient you toward MXML and ActionScript and the tools needed to work with them. We will be cheating a little bit and borrowing some sample code from the Adogo’s June code camp. The example application is very straight-forward, so we should be able to jump right into it.
For this meeting, I suggest having the following available:
- A laptop with Windows or MacOS X installed
- A copy of the Flex Builder 3 IDE trial (free for students)
- Flex SDK 3.1
- Flash Player 9 or higher
- Web browser
- Sample code
If you’d like to get a head start on looking into Flex, The Flex Show has a great series of vidcasts which are short, informative, and a great introduction. Additionally, for a more in depth look at Flex, the Silicon Valley Flex User Group has some great webcasts for beginners as well.
See you all on Thursday and remember to RSVP.
Tags: flex, introduction, primer, september