Flash Player - Future of flash development

Hello,

I have downloaded flash professional CS 5.5 and builder 4.5. I started learning about actionscript and flex programming. I even found a template in flash and builder where you can build apps for android, bb and iOS5. However, what I dont understand is that despite all these good options available with these two adobe product, I learnt that they are not supported by Apple and that sooner or later Adobe will shut down it's programming gift to developers. How true is this or am I reading the wrong information? Can I for instance develop iOS5 apps using builder and flash pro OR is it a gone case now?

Thank you

Hi,

this is over for Flex. Please read the official Adobe forums to understand the whole case : http://blogs.adobe.com/flex/2011/11/your-questions-about-flex.html

As for developing mobile apps width IOS 5, head to Objective-C width Xcode and COCOA for instance.

Regards,

Thank you for clarification. Four related last question and I'm done with my confusion

1) Does this mean I do not need to learn about flex anymore as no future with it?

2) Is Flex (only an SDK) which was used and utilized by actionscript programming?

3) What about Actionscript? Is it something that I should learn or is it gone too?

4) What about flash builder as an IDE tool?

Thank you

@TerryMate,

Hi Terry,

Hope all is well. I have been a Actionscript/Flash developer for almost 15 years now and have several relationships members of the Adobe team. Here's the skinny...

1. Do not waste your time with Flex, it is dead. Adobe will have one major update under it's new open source status(when it debuts) then after that it's curtains and is left up to the community with little to no support from Adobe.

2. Flex is only an SDK ( a poorly written one at that ) and is not needed for Flash development. Most of the really cool Flash stuff is done sans Flex.

3. Actionscript is a little different and does merit some exploration. It is a good language to learn since it is very similar to Java( albeit some notable differences ). Actionscript is the language that powers Flash & AIR, and if you are planning to build any desktop or mobile apps then it would definitely be something to check out.

4. Flash Builder is also defunct. Adobe will only update if(and only if) there are any updates to the SDK (highly unlikely IMHO)



The truth about Flash:
Apple not supporting flash was not a technical issue but a personal one, with huge egos invested. Sometimes as developers/engineers we get caught in the cross fire. That being said, Flash is officially dead... apple did not kill it though, Adobe did. Adobe's appalling lack of leadership and b@lls in defending their product line was just pathetic. It got to the point where well known Flash developers don't want to do Flash anymore simply because of the stigma that Adobe has refused to refute.

Personally, I would try to stay away as much as you can from Adobe's developer products. Adobe executive management has proven time and time again that they are the gang that can't shoot straight. They're lack of leadership has transformed Adobe into an unreliable flaky company.


Apple isn't any better, in fact in many cases worse, as programming for iOS is a yearly privilege that you pay for and a privilege that Apple can revoke at any time for any reason.

I would focus on HTML5/JS (not because it is better, in fact it is not, but because it's the buzzword right now). Most people don't know what HTML5 or web standards are, they just like saying it because it makes them sound like they know what they're talking about. Reality is that JS is a horrible language with horrible features and clunky/leaky implementation. Veteran programmers know this and stay away as much as they can, script kiddies( which are the ones pushing HTML5/JS ) don't know any better and since they are the loudest; They have made HTML5/JS the new normal. Not too worry though, this will die down to just like it did with the whole AJAX mania. Once these script kiddies grow up a little and learn more languages, gaining more experience, they will drop JS like a sack of moldy potatoes and we will be back on path to a more pragmatic and useful web.


Cheers.


PS. Keep your eye on the Google DART project. If you don't know already, Google complete and utterly despises Javascript, even though they have toned down their discontent as not to arise the ire of the JS apologists. Google DART is meant to replace JS with a REAL, strongly typed language that will run as a plugin in browsers and native in chrome.

Hello Boomras,

This is by far the best response I got to my query. Thank you very much for the clarity and advises shared.

Now that I should not bother myself with Adobe flash, actionscript and flex (along with pro and builder) as the tools. What happens if I wish to develop animated banners or components similar to the one developed by flash? Does this mean there will be no animated objects in the future or is there another tool I can use that can develop these objects for me?

Will HTML5/JS that people tout about have the same functionality of building animated (flash example) driven websites. Can you share some sample and what tool used to create them so I can get to learn myself?

Google dart. Where can I find some documentations on it's development tool and learning along with example of websites having them so I can relate?

Thank you again

Well said. How one loud mouth hypocrite can drive such a wedge in a community still baffles me. Then Adobe's spinelessness about how useful and powerful Flash really is became the nail in the coffin. </rant>

I'm also a long-time Flash developer and in that time spent as much of my effort defending it as developing with it.

I'm right now imagining what a leap backward we're going to have to take with JS/HTML5. It's going to be a long time (if ever) when it's matured enough to manage half of what Flash can.

Flash just solved so many problems and worked well in all of my deployments. The nonsense it was buggy is just that. Not perfect, but not buggy enough to ban it.