Datasheet

Part I: Rich Internet Applications and the Flash Platform

also contribute bug reports and assist in the future development of the framework. The Flex

framework is by necessity a key focus of this book, as Flash Catalyst is designed as a tool for

the framework.

Flash Builder 4

While the Flex framework is open source and development of Flex applications is technically free,

Adobe does offer a commercial Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Flex. Originally

known as Flex Builder, it was rebranded in early 2009 as Flash Builder to better fit the overall

branding of the Flash Platform. Flash Builder is the tool of choice for professional Flex developers

and indeed even for many developers creating applications in Flash Professional, due to the later

tool’s limited coding capabilities.

Flash Builder is built on the Eclipse toolset. Eclipse is itself an open-source IDE, used primarily by

Java developers.

Cross-Reference

Flash Builder is covered in detail in Part IV.

Summary

As the Web has grown and matured so too have the needs of Web developers. Today’s Web users

expect more from the pages they visit, and Rich Internet Applications aim to satisfy that expecta-

tion with the help of such tools as Ajax and the Flash platform. In this chapter, you explored:

A brief history of the Web

The move from Dynamic HTML to Ajax

The Flash Platform and its various tools and runtimes

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