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 Sometimes I am baffled by the available technology at our finger tips. In today’s fast-paced world it seems as if everything keeps changing and evolving at an exponential rate. This phenomenon is quite noticeable in the computer-world as one can argue that technology is one of the main contributors for this overall rapid change. Computers become faster and more reliable as time progresses and with them come better and more efficient ways to develop the software that empower them, this is the reason why it would be almost impossible for a single human being to become proficient, let alone consummated, in every software-development platform there is.
I became aware of this fact early on when I was researching on how to learn to program computers. The choices of programming languages were almost endless and the paths to learn each one of them only exacerbated my frustration until I realized that no matter what technology I chose to endeavor in I had to have fun using it because this would determine whether I stuck with it until I understood it well enough to be proficient or whether I would just become so incorrigibly frustrated that my excitement and love for technology, more specifically for computers, would fade away to the point of hatred; I knew I had to get it right the first time. I knew I loved video games and I also knew that the prospect of me making my own seemed so intriguing that that’s what I chose to learn. Interestingly, I had always liked a product from Macromedia, now Adobe, called Flash that allows artists to make their own animations and cartoons and publish them in a lightweight and portable format specially suited for the internet. This program has a built-in programming language (scripting language) that allows programmers and developers to create interactive media; the part that lured me the most was that most of the online games are created with this technology.
After I bought myself, or better said, my parents bought me some books on the subject, I started developing game prototypes and experimenting with ideas I had in my head. Up until today I have sold two games to sponsors and have made some money off my skills. Recently however, my interests have shifted slightly toward the application development realm. This has to do with the fact that I am studying computer science and started to apply my knowledge in applications that are useful in everyday life; as of now I am building an invoice management system for my dad’s business.
My experience with Flash has been a terrific one because it has taught me a lot of fundamental skills required in computer science and software engineering. One subject I became interested and good at as a result of my game-development experience with Flash was math because games rely heavily on it. Now that I have more experience with software-development I am looking into the frontiers and shooting for application development with a technology based off Flash’s programming language ActionScript 3.0 called Flex.
“Adobe Flex is a software development kit released by Adobe Systems for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich Internet applications based on the Adobe Flash platform.” (Source: Wikipedia). This means that Flex is a SDK specially designed to create and develop Rich Internet Applications or RIAs for short. With it you can program your own applications and deploy them over the internet. In fact, world-class applications have been developed with this cutting-edge technology and many software-development companies are looking for software-engineers who possess ample knowledge in Flex. Nvidia, Sony, Discovery Channel and more companies have used Flex to develop RIAs.
If you are a developer interested in Flex here are some of the reasons to learn Flex:
- Better suited for developers
- Powerful and extensible GUI creation using MXML (based on XML)
- Dynamic and world-wide audience
- Ability to develop desktop applications using Adobe Integrated Runtime or AIR technology.
- Demand is high and supply of knowledgeable developers is low
There are many more advantages in using Flex to develop RIAs but you won’t immediately see them unless you have worked in web-development. I know that if I make the necessary effort to continue learning and keeping up-to-date with today’s fast paced and sometimes hectic world, my skills will be in high demand for a long time to come. I invite you to join thousands of developers who have discovered Flex and found that the possibilities are virtually endless and only limited by our imagination and ingenuity. If you’d like to find more information on this wonderful technology you can go to www.adobe.com/products/flex or google it. One extremely important point to remark is the fact that the Flex SDK is open-source and can be used free of charge! How better can it get?
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