HaXe really is more similar to AS3 than many here seem to think (it's
more of a superset than a subset - though there are some missing
features like namespace). Would Flex really need to start from scratch
when porting to HaXe? Could some level of automation be utilized
(there's an unfinished tool that could be picked up and worked on for
doing just that)?
The biggest problem with a change in platform has more to do legacy support.
What do you do with all that AS3 code? If Flex is written in HaXe, and
you still target Flash/AIR platform, you can still rely on the old AS3
compiler to leverage all that legacy SWC and AS3 code. HaXe in this
migration path doesn't require dumping legacy code at all. Win/win. Flex
migration could even be modularized, because of this. I wonder if a
small proof of concept could be attempted - convert some core Flex
components to HaXe, compile to SWC, and leave the rest in AS3, and see
how that goes.
A benefit of the switch, of course, is HaXe allows movement to many
platforms other than ABC/Flash/AIR - including open stacks such as NME,
Neko and HTML5.
In short HaXe nets Flex a lot. Legacy code base support through
Flash/AIR, support for completely open stack(s) for apps, and HTML5
support. This is the power of open source.
HaXe Foundation:
http://haxe-foundation.org/
Kevin N.
On 11/16/12 3:58 PM, Gordon Smith wrote:
The silliest of the bunch in my opinion is porting to HaXe or starting from
scratch.
