On 2/22/12 4:16 AM, "Martin Heidegger" <m...@leichtgewicht.at> wrote:
> On 22/02/2012 18:29, Dimitri k. wrote:
>> At the Paris Flex meeting, I spoke with Thibault Imbert, who is Senior
>> Runtimes product manager , about the fact that the Apache Flex project would
>> really benefit from having some kind of early access to the new Falcon
>> compiler, at least to undestand it and to have to opportunity to think about
>> what we will have to do after the donation for the MXML and HTML/JS part, and
>> to help the project momentum by not waiting to 2013 to start working on it.
>>
>> Thibault was really interested about this feedback, and quite open to discuss
>> what could possibly be done before the full donation in order to help us move
>> the projects forward.
>> I'm not a compiler guy at all so I used what I remembered from the
>> discussions on this list for my different ideas (from the best one for us to
>> the easiest for Adobe):
>>
>> - Early access to the source code in a Adobe Flex SDK way (see it but don't
>> touch it ;) )
>> - Release of alpha/beta version of the compiler to start working with it
>> - Disclosure of the API/compiler mecanism
>> - Early documentation about how the compiler works
>>
>> I will see Thibault again at between 6.30PM and 8.30PM GMT + 1 (Paris), so if
>> compiler guys (Michael, David, etc.) would chime in and have some
>> ideas/precisions, I'd gladly forward them.
>>
>> Dimitri K.
>
> Isn't it interesting for Adobe to get input from the Apache community
> about the project? They want to commit it in the end, right? To commit
> it the developers here should approve the commission. It is somewhat
> risky for Adobe to develop something for a year or two, hoping that its
> in sync with the aims that Apache Flex has by then.
Adobe is primarily interested in making sure Falcon compiles AS3 projects
for Gaming. Apache Flex is not a primary focus and they have a tight
deadline (as you can see it has already slipped) so as an Adobe employee I
don't think I can recommend that Adobe finish Falcon AS3 in the open. I've
seen how much time it has taken to get the framework going. But Adobe will
contribute the MXML work it had completed and Apache folks will finish it in
the open. We'll probably keep the MXML parsing, toss the
one-method-per-tag code and rewrite the output more along the code I wrote.
>
> I think its Adobe should be strongly encourage its developers to discuss
> things/questions on the mailinglist and ask for help.
Adobe employees involved in Apache Flex are discussing things on the Apache
Flex mailing list.
>
> But aside from that: creating a "closed-no-eyes" development attitude is
> a little uncomfortable giving that all other contributors discuss their
> contributions in public. I saw that the contributions Adobe did till now
> take a while and I am sure they will take a while for Falcon as well: If
> you have "from start" a open development model then they might avoid
> this effort in the "big contribution" process and they would get input
> right away.
I think it is too late for Falcon. It has been developed as closed source
for a while now and opening it now will simply delay it from its primary
goal.
--
Alex Harui
Flex SDK Team
Adobe Systems, Inc.
http://blogs.adobe.com/aharui
