Flint Particles 2.2.0 released

Yesterday I released version 2.2.0 of Flint Particles. This version includes a new feature enabling collisions between particles and zones. Since zones can represent any shape, that means particles can collide with other objects provided a zone is defined to match (or approvimately match) the shape of the object.

Here’s a simple example of these collisions in action

View the source

Full details of what is new in this version are on the Flint website.

Posted on 26 August 2010 | 2 comments | continue reading

Spring Actionscript example project with source

In preparation for my session at gotoAndSki I have created a Spring Actionscript version of my frameworks example application. The Spring Actionscript developers have released a version 1 release candidate and it’s time to include it in these comparisons.

For this Spring Actionscript example I’ve used exactly the same project as in the previous examples for other frameworks. Like many of the newer frameworks, Spring Actionscript is not prescriptive about your application’s architecture so I’ve used a similar MVC architecture to the one in my Swiz example.

Posted on 9 June 2010 | no comments | continue reading

What project will replace the Flex framework?

In my previous post I discussed the idea that a project might emerge to replace the Flex framework, in a similar manner to Spring replacing EJB in the Java world. Although I am not in a position to predict what that project will be, I did mention some characteristics that I think the project will have. They were

  1. It will start as something simple, with a strong foundation and the potential to grow.
  2. It will have some very strong developers at its core.
  3. It will have at least one project member with an ability to market effectively to the developer community.
  4. It will be open source.
  5. Its roadmap will develop through open discussion with the community.
  6. It will have a very active developer community around it.
  7. It’s probably a project that has already begun.

I can think of three excellent projects that meet most or all of these criteria. Whether any of them will one day replace the flex framework depends on many things, including in two cases whether the developers would even want to do such a thing. Here are the projects…

Posted on 13 April 2010 | 13 comments | continue reading

Is The Flash Platform waiting for a Spring moment?

I’ve dipped my toe back in the Java world recently, and I’m reminded of some interesting Java history that may be echoed in Flash’s future.

Back in the distant mist of Java’s past, most large Java web projects were built using something called Enterprise JavaBeans. EJB was a complex framework developed by Sun, the developers of Java itself (with some input from IBM). EJB had a number of good things going for it, but some developers also thought that the architecture and APIs were too complex.

Then a smart guy called Rod Johnson wrote a book about an idea, and he created a small framework called Spring to illustrate that idea, and the Java world started to change…

Posted on 8 April 2010 | 5 comments | continue reading

Transforming the designer-developer workflow

Here are the slides and example code from my presentation, Transforming the designer-developer workflow, at 360|Flex San Jose on 8th March 2010…

Posted on 16 March 2010 | no comments | continue reading

My 360|Flex presentation

Until recently, the title for my 360|Flex San Jose presentation next month was “Designer Last Development Architecture”. But that has just changed…

Posted on 25 February 2010 | no comments | continue reading

Frameworks presentation slides

Here are the slides from my frameworks presentation at Flex London User Group last Tuesday, 16 February 2010.

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 9 comments | continue reading

360|Flex San Jose

I was already considering making the trip to San Jose to attend the 360|Flex conference this March when the organisers asked me if I’d present a session. 360|Flex has interested me for some time. It’s the most technical, developer oriented of the many Flash and Flex conferences around, and as a developer myself that obviously interests me. The level of technical knowledge amongst the speakers is immense.

But 360|Flex is about more than just technical presentations. John and Tom try very hard to make this a conference where all attendees feel part of a community…

Posted on 17 February 2010 | 4 comments | continue reading

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