WebManiacs 2008 (CF,Flex,AIR) registration is open

The WebManiacs 2008 conference schedule has been finalized and registration is open. Early bird pricing ends Jan 31.

Consisting of a two-day ColdFusion conference (”CFManiacs”) coupled with a three-day Flex conference (FlexManiacs), hosting over 70 speakers and 130 distinct topics (some of which are hands-on), WebManiacs promises to have the most comprehensive coverage of Flex, AIR, and ColdFusion at the lowest price.

Seating is limited, so Register early in order to get into the more popular sessions.

Open Source Flex Development Framework

Moxie Zhang has posted a nice article in infoq about Open Source Flex development frame works. In his post Moxie has listed 10 Open source frameworks for Flex Development.

Following are top Open Source Frameworks:

1. Cairngorm
   “The Cairngorm micro architecture is intended as a framework for Enterprise RIA developers. If you are writing a very simple application (such as a prototype application) or an application with only a single view, then you might consider a “Model 1″ solution that doesn’t strive for the same separation of model, view, and control that Cairngorm advocates. The benefits of the Cairngorm architecture are realized when developing complex RIA applications with multiple use-cases and views, with a team of developers, and with a multi-disciplinary development team that includes designers as well as creative and technical developers.” by Adobe
   Download Cairngorm.
2. PureMVC
   “PureMVC is a lightweight framework for creating applications in ActionScript 3, based upon the classic Model-View-Controller design meta-pattern.This free, open source framework does not depend on any Flash, Flex or Apollo classes, and is therefore suitable for architecting applications on any platform running AS3.” By PureMVC
   Download PureMVC
3. Model-Glue
   “The Model-Glue family of frameworks support Web application developers by making the construction of Object-Oriented Web and Rich Internet Applications a straightforward process.
   Through a simple implementation of Implicit Invocation and Model-View-Controller, they allow applications to be well organized without sacrificing flexibility.” By Model-Glue
   Download Model-Glue
   
4. Foundry
   
5. Guasax Flex Framework
   
6. ARP
   
7. Flest Framework
   
8. EasyMVC
   
9. Adobe FAST
10. Joeberkovitz’s framework

An architectural blueprint for Flex applications

Joe Berkovitz has posted nice article on “An architectural blueprint of Flex Applications“ on DevNet. He briefed out how to envision the architecture flex application in very simple way. He has explained MVCS architecture in very good way by taking example of ReviewTube .

If you are new to flex and learn how to start developing flex applications by using MVCS then this article will give you good start.

You can read article here.

Link to ReviewTube

PureMVC Courseware

PureMVC has opened up the Beta test program for PureMVC Courseware. This is good initiative by PureMVC team to document the PureMVC and help people to adopt the frame work.

You can register for PureMVC Beta testing program here.

In can if you haven’t heard.

What is PureMVC?
PureMVC is a lightweight framework for creating applications in ActionScript 3, based upon the classic Model-View-Controller design meta-pattern.
This free, open source framework does not depend on any Flash, Flex or Apollo classes, and is therefore suitable for architecting applications on any platform running AS3.

Visit PureMVC website.

SUN to acquire MySQL

Sun Microsystems has announced to acquire Words most popular Open Source Database company mySQL for approx $1 Billion. The acquisition accelerates Sun’s position in enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market.

Read more about Acquisition.

MacBook AIR World Thinnest Laptop

Apple has come up with world’s thinnest note book which is small enough to fit inside an interoffice mailing envelop. MacBook AIR costs $1799.

This is truly a surprising technology innovation from Apple which had brought up Notebook 2.0

Following are key features of the MacBook AIR

• Multi Touch
  MacBook Air includes an oversize trackpad with multi-touch technology. You can pinch, swipe, or rotate to zoom in on text, advance through a photo album, or adjust an image. This gesture-based input so successful on iPhone and iPod touch now comes to MacBook.
• 13.3″ LED Display
  The backlit LED display allows for an even thinner build. It provides instant full-screen brightness the moment you open MacBook Air. The mercury- and arsenic-free display is also more power efficient, which translates to longer battery life.
• a USB 2.0 port,
• a headphone jack
• micro-DVI port that supports DVI, VGA, composite, and S-video output.
• MagSafe power connection.
• 2GB of RAM built in
• 80GB hard drive (option to upgrade to a 64GB solid-state drive)
• 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
• built-in iSight camera

Creating cool front-end Apps using Flex and JavaScript @ 360Flex

I am glad to announce that I will be speaking at 360Flex on “Creating cool front-end Apps using Flex and JavaScript”

My topic will be covering following points and much more.

• Flex and JavaScript Hand in Hand.
• Integration and communication between Flex and JavaScript.
• Flex and Ajax Bridge.
• Simple approaches to achieve most usable UI using Flex and JavaScript.
• Building word processor using flex and javascript.
• Drag and Drop management between Flex Component and JavaScript component.
• Some Examples
• Q and A

This session will bring up light on many good technique and challenges while working with flex and JavaScript.

See you @ 360Flex Atlanta.

Register for 360Flex Atlanta / Europe

The REST in RPC

There are Different ways for RPC for data exchange like WebService besed on SOAP, WSDL WS- and REST. I have come across an interesting article which focuses on Introduction to REST and Key Principals of REST.

Article talk briefly on following RESTful Principals:

• Give every thing an ID
• Link things together
• Use standard methods
• Resources with multiple representations
• Communicate statelessly

This is good article to understand REST quickly and enter in to RESTful arena

Read Article here…

James Gosling on JavaFX and Adobe Flash / Flex / AIR

Kathleen Richards has posted notes of interview with James Gosling (Creator of the java programming language).

Here are some Q&A Discussed with James Gosling which are specifically for Adobe Flash / Flex / AIR.

How will JavaFX be positioned with regard to Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe AIR?
[James] : It certainly competes with both of those. I think we have a much broader and more capable API set. We’ve got a much stronger security story and cross-platform story and a really strong performance story. And I think our deliverable will be really nice.

As organizations think about building rich Internet applications or rich client applications, when should developers look at JavaFX over competing technologies?
[James] :Â “If you look at something like Flash, when you get to the much more advanced stuff — richer interfaces, more complex network protocols, more complex APIs — it really falls short.” We’ve had a platform for years that can build rich Internet applications that are extremely sophisticated.
Our issue hasn’t really been, can you build interesting rich Internet applications? But that it’s difficult. And most of our efforts really are around making a lot of it easier.

In RIA technology space Flash Platform and AJAX are leader and Microsoft (Silverlight) and SUN (JavaFX) are just coming in action.

I am sure that Flash/Flex Platform Community will have some reaction on this.

You can read full article here…

Top 10 Adobe Flex Misconceptions

Adobe’s James Ward shared Flex Misconceptions with infoQ.com at QCon. James answered many contradictory questions about flex misconceptions.

At the end there are many comments and concern posted by users have been answered by James.
Have a look at interesting post here…
http://www.infoq.com/news/2007/12/top-10-flex-misconceptions