Santosh on Flex

Post Adobe Max 2010

2010-11-09T11:23:00.001-08:00

So MAX 2010 is over and this year I didn't get to go. My co-worker was chosen to go this year so that's ok. He got a Droid 2 phone and a Google TV box for free and he doesn't know what to do with them. So I am helping him figure it out and he's been pretty good about sharing the goods. Nice guy.

I attended the MAX online and was really really inspired by how much Flex/AIR/Android/HTML5/CSS3 can interplay and create compelling user experiences.

Anyways, so I am taking the Flex 4 certification seriously and have decided to get it completed before March. I bought the Flash Builder 4 and Flex 4 Bible book and also have a DVD from Lynda.com. Not to mention, www.freeflextraining.com. My organization has finally been very supportive of Flex/AIR projects that use a Java backend so I am tasked with coming up with training, documentation, architecture patterns, etc, using BlazeDS and Spring. We are probably also going to look at LCDS and decide if it is worth the investment for some type of high profile projects that we have in the pipeline. So it is going to be an interesting fiscal year (Sep'10-Aug'11).

WebORB for Java

2010-03-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

I have heard about this product so many times but always skipped learning about it in favor of equivalent products from a larger company like Adobe. Recently, Adobe has done a terrible thing, in my opinion, with regards to licensing costs for LCDS and their open source product, BlazeDS, sending mixed signals and frustration to their existing and potential customers (that means me!). Anybody who is an enterprise developer knows that just Flex/AIR is just eye candy and integration with a robust Java back-end is kind of mandatory. So it is not Flex but Flex+Java that is under consideration for the most part.

Firstly, LCDS is an expensive product. It may well be worth the money but for a company like mine which is not a Flex/AIR shop, we need something smaller and cheaper to build the case for future development. The answer *was* BlazeDS. "Was" because after the launch of LCDS 3.0, the future of BlazeDS is left hanging by a thread. No one at Adobe is telling if BlazeDS has a future. BlazeDS is the same as LCDS without some nifty features. BlazeDS would be the right product to use if you are just starting out. So with all this frustration, I was pinging experts at Adobe like Anil Channapa and Duane "Chaos" Nickull. Duane said internally Adobe has made the decision to support the development of BlazeDS 4. Internally? Why not be public about it and avoid the confusion and the frustration? Anil just touted the features of LCDS are worth the price and that pricing is in another department of Adobe and he is just the product manager. Ok, I can live with that answer. :-)

So I have been looking around and then learned that frustrated people (and ex-LCDS users) have switched to WebORB for Java. Thus I am looking at it too. Seems like RTMP (Real-time Messaging Protocol) which is not there in BlazeDS but there in LCDS) is out of the box along with data management. So woo hoo!

Jan 2010 Flex certification continued

2010-01-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

Ok.. So I have started viewing the Total Training DVD for Flex certification. It has been good so far but it is fast paced and I wouldn't advise anyone to take it without getting an introduction from www.freeflextraining.com. It's good to know the basics of Flex before taking Total Training otherwise you might be lost pretty soon.

Anyways... will keep posting on my progress. Right now I just want it to be over before March 2010. I have to keep up the focus and keep going.

Flex 3 Certification

2009-10-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

So I have a desire to get Flex 3 Certification in a couple of months. So do a few folks where I work. I have been researching for the past year and a half on how to achieve it and have narrowed it down to:

Programming Flex 3 - OReilly
Flex training in a week - online free video
Flex 3 DVD from TotalTraining

I will keep posting my progress here. Let's see how far I get. Ideally (seriously), I would like to be an Adobe Certified Instructor. That way I can save money for my company on training (Flex classroom training is not cheap) and also can get involved with local training institutes and make some money on the side (family comes first though so I am not sure I am ready to spend any more time outside of work).

Getting the certification is going to be the easy part. The teaching part requires another certificaiton called Comptia+ or something like that and I have no clue how to go about it. Well, first things first. I've got to keep the focus on getting the Flex 3 certification first. The biggest challenge is keeping the focus and not being a victim of information overload. We'll see.