My 10 cents below... On 12/9/14, 1:23 PM, "Jesse Nicholson" <ascensionsyst...@gmail.com> wrote:
>With all due respect Gary, I just finished making a project management >application for a client that is pure HTML/JS and runs on all browsers. >The >application looks like the latest version of office, that is, it looks >like >a clean, modern and power desktop application, and functions like one, in >pure HTML/JS. Has a full blown chat server and client (again, pure JS), >etc >so on and so forth. People that still believe the flash VM can do things >that HTML/JS can't are out of touch (again, not trying to be offensive). >As >far as animation/games etc, just look at projects like pixijs[1], or >away3D >typescript (now awayJS)[2]. In terms of UI, so far in working on FlexJS, I haven’t found anything web-apps need to do that Flash could do and the HTML/JS/CSS world can’t. But the Flash VM does do one thing the browsers don’t do: it verifies code when loaded externally. In really large enterprise class applications, you can’t always get all of your compilation units together (or it is impractical to do so), and thus when you start loading code written by someone else, in JS you have to trust that the interfaces have not changed. That’s why FlexJS has a mode where you can test your code in the Flash VM before cross-compiling to JS. If your external dependencies have changed, Flash will throw an error if the API surface does not match. > >I also disagree that the value of flex "is an extension of Flash". I >believe that's actually it's curse. That is generally true, but there are places where folks can still choose Flash and take advantage of some of its features such as the VM verification, true code security, etc. And so, FlexJS doesn’t really take a side. We are designing it for cross-compilation, but folks can certainly build Flash-specific stuff for it because fewer things are all baked together. We are trying to make the code pattern all about composition of little pieces for many reasons, but it helps in situations like this. >>> On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 3:43 PM, <f...@dfguy.us> wrote: >> > >>you're still >> > doing a >> > > lot of rewriting. Then, the browser isn't exactly a runtime in >>terms of >> > > being interpretive as opposed to precompiled. So if you target the >> > browser >> > > you still have to figure out some "third party" framework for mobile >> > > deployment in app form right? >> > > FlexJS has prototypes of output to Cordova/PhoneGap. >>> > >> > > If flex became a JavaScript only framework for targeting would that >> > > actually help it get used more, or would there be even more >> competition. IMO, FlexJS is not trying to compete against existing UI Frameworks. We have prototypes of using FlexJS to glue together a Jquery app. The key for FlexJS is this: As an app developer using frameworks you are basically attaching components to one another, not unlike building do-it-yourself furniture from kits like IKEA sells. JS is essentially a bunch of written instructions without diagrams with only a bunch of nails and screws to use to assemble the furniture. You can literally attach anything to anything, put too many nails in one place, not put enough nails in another, forget to tighten certain screws etc. And as the app/furniture begins to get bigger and bear more load, you are going to find out the hard way where you made mistakes. The JS compilers can catch a lot mistakes assuming you have all of the pieces together at one time. But if you build half of a bookshelf and someone else builds the other half in another room and you meet to combine the two, you might find them slightly off and not find out until too late. MXML is like adding diagrams to the assembly instructions, and AS with a verifying VM allows you to make those custom connectors that only fit in one place so you can’t make as many mistakes and assembly goes faster and you feel more confident about the results. FlexJS says you can wrap, in theory, any JS framework and give it an AS API surface, then create your diagrams in MXML and start assembling and you’ll get done faster, and when the person building the other half gets done faster and you meet, you’ll have a much better chance of it fitting, and if it doesn’t we’ll tell you right then, not after you put the 100th book on the shelf. -Alex
