The future is here

Welcome to the future of RIA development. The lab is now open!

Things have dramatically changed for this iteration. ActionScript 3 and Flex 2 are a big step up, and Macromedia has done a great job with them so far. Even though the bits available are only alpha, you can tell a lot of hard work has already gone into the product.

There's so much to see and do, I wanted to highlight just a few of the new features that I find particularly useful.

Method closures: Instead of...

component.addEventListener( "click", Delegate.create( this, handleClick ) );

... we can now write:

component.addEventListener( "click", handleClick );

... and handleClick will execute in the scope in which it's defined. This is a huge simplification.

New number types: We finally have int, and uint, (alas, no byte or char...), but it's good to have something other than just Number. There's also a ByteArray class too.. that's handy.

Binary Sockets: Now you can implement your own protocols. :-)

New DOM: There's an entirely new object model that allows much more flexibility with MovieClips. You can reparent on the fly, move things on an off the displaylist, completely restructure the displayed hierarchy.. and it's fast. The addChild method is a new best friend.

Clean API: If you want to create a new MovieClip, you simply say var mc:MovieClip = new MovieClip();, and then add it to the display list to get it to appear. No more attachMovie hackery! Plus, the new Sprite class is nice.

There's a ton of new information out now, and a lot of reading to do. Head over to the lab and check it out. This is a huge release both technically and politically as this marks the first time Macromedia have opened up their products this early in the cycle to the general public. Enjoy the early bits, and make the most of them! Using Flex has never been better...