Recently I sat through a presentation on a Enterprise level architecture written in C#. It was a great presentation, full of slides on Data Transfer Objects, Domain Object and Design Patterns, but while sitting through it I was thinking “why is the norm in C# and .Net, but not Flash and Flex”.
The Flash (I can’t keep saying Flash and Flex, so I’ll call it Flash from now on) work I work with day to day is very restricted. I’m working with some one else’s code which has been written over a number of years (some has comments posted 2003) and is still in ActionScript 2.
Now I can’t just replace all this old system with a new system in one go, but I would like to modernise the system we have written in AS2. Firstly convert to AS3, which will bring so many benefits, secondly restructure parts of it to use Domain Model Object and Data Transfer Objects instead of the more Transaction Script approach we are currently using.
Unfortunately I think Flash still has the reputation (here it certainly does) that it is for banner ads or small presentations and not a platform for delivering full Enterprise Level applications.
In order to change this perception the Flash Platform needs to deliver performance, speed of deliver of content and data. While also creating small optimised SWFs, a real concern of our at work is the loading times of our SWFs.
I also think that ActionScript needs to be taken far more seriously as a language. If Adobe want to push the Flash Platform as a solution to deliver enterprise level applications, the core language of the platform needs to be treated as enterprise level language.
I’d like to see more on the Adobe site on ActionScript. If you compare it to the level of content on the MSDN site for C# there is more content, more examples on how to write and design C# programs for an enterprise level. Of course we in the community can and should do our part by writing articles on our blogs or posting articles to the DevNet Adobe site. Which I plan to do.
Flash is going through a change and this year is going to be a big year for the Flash Platform, but it is going to be difficult to convince companies with a history of working with a platform that currently provides then with serious platform for their enterprise level systems that the Flash Platform is a valid alternative, which as a Flash Platform developer I know it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment