Common Sense for the Flex Developer

Ah, it's nice to see a common-sense contribution to the world of software development from my old friends and colleagues, Tariq Ahmed, Jonathan Hirschi and Frank Krul. I just got an update from Tariq on their new book, "Flex 3 in Action".

Flex is a programming language that sprang up somewhere within the walls of Macromedia (now Adobe) sometime around 2003. It aims to solve many problems facing the Rich Internet Application (RIA) development community by extending the power of HTML applications. Relatively new technologies are tougher to grasp due to the limited availability of information via Google, Amazon or your local computer bookstore. The best resources are most often the early adopters, the users that forge the methods and approaches to gaining the most productivity from a tool, but writing a book is a daunting task.

Leading Flex developers Tariq Ahmed, Jonathan Hirschi and Frank Krul have been busy authoring the new reference, "Flex 3 in Action", a common-sense guide to Flex. With all the RIA madness going on in the Web Development industry, it's good to know that there's a book being developed for the common web application developer to help understand what Flex is all about and determine if it's right for them. As most of us have experienced, too many books are too light on information, when it's really the depth of subject material that is needed when you're facing a problem and need to be unstuck.

Flex 3 in Action strives to give the reader a high level view on each feature and then digs deep into what options are available. The authors then take the time to weigh the pros and cons of taking different approaches so that you fully understand how the language works and what's available in your arsenal. The learning curve is tackled by relating HTML-based interface methodologies with how a developer might approach their goals within a Flex mindset.

If you're thinking about adopting this web application technology or you are familiar with Flex, help them out and give their work-in-progress a review:

http://www.manning.com/ahmed/