NeoSwiff, the C# to .swf compiler, has added beta support for Flash Player 9. NeoSwiff applications now run up to 35 times faster.
The guys at GlobFX have been doing a great job with NeoSwiff from my view on the sidelines. I'm only a casual user at best, but have been impressed with the quality of their compiler. The exact same C# codebase can target Flash Players 7-8, or Flash Player 9 without any modifications. This means that you can offer the same NeoSwiff application to people with older versions of the player, but also offer a high speed supercharged version to those who've already upgraded to Flash Player 9.
They've even managed to keep their inline assembly code working, for the hardcore nerds out there. A sample snippet (for calling the native Security.loadPolicyFile while targeting both AVM1 and AVM2):
static unsafe void loadPolicyFile( string url )
{
#if __VM1__
__asm
{
push url
push 1
push "System"
getv
push "security"
getm
push "loadPolicyFile"
callm
pop
}
#else
__asm
{
ldlex "flash.system.Security"
ldarg url
callp "loadPolicyFile", 1
pop
}
#endif
}
I'll still be using Flex 2 and ActionScript 3 for my daily work, but credit goes out to GlobFX for their continued work on a great product for C# developers.
Tags: NeoSwiff

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