Flash Vs Flex for programming
Author
Flash and Flex both allow you to code in AS3.0, to be honest I'm not entirely sure what the difference is except that I think Flash is geared more towards animations and art, whereas Flex is aimed at writing applications and doing programming.
For programming, rather than making pre-canned animations, is there actually any real difference, since both use AS3.0?
The choice for tools seems to be between CS3 or FlexBuilder, but if I wrote a bunch of classes in a Flash project could I use them in a Flex project?
You'll want to use Flash for making a game :)
Flex is pretty much an easy way to make pretty charts, etc.
It even exports its files in the Flash format.
Flex is pretty much an easy way to make pretty charts, etc.
It even exports its files in the Flash format.
Author
That's not my experience with Flex. If you're used both, can you explain how it's actually different? If not, please don't post what you've been told by others.
Well, I'm an experienced professional with Flash, but I haven't used flex before.
They have different development workflows by the looks of it, but I'm unable to tell you very much about Flex.
What I'm getting at though is that Flash will do everything you want. Why are you looking towards Flex?
Is there something that you want that Flash doesn't do?
They have different development workflows by the looks of it, but I'm unable to tell you very much about Flex.
What I'm getting at though is that Flash will do everything you want. Why are you looking towards Flex?
Is there something that you want that Flash doesn't do?
I think it's important to remember that Flex is geared toward "creating rich Internet applications". I would see this geared toward data-heavy internet applications (forms, website statistics, shopping carts, etc.) which may or may not include games.
Can you build a game with Flex? Sure.
Should you? Possibly not. Why not just build it in Flash? As you said, Flash is geared toward "animations and art" which most games are made of.
If you're going to be using a large data store for your game, then maybe Flex is a good idea.
Can you build a game with Flex? Sure.
Should you? Possibly not. Why not just build it in Flash? As you said, Flash is geared toward "animations and art" which most games are made of.
If you're going to be using a large data store for your game, then maybe Flex is a good idea.
They are just different tools that produce the same thing.
What Flex gives you is a bunch of command line tools and a large API to work with. You write stuff in either MXML (which is similar in form and function to HTML) or Actionscript. You can write the code in your own text editor, or you can use the Flex Builder IDE (which is a glorified Eclipse plug-in).
There aren't any tools in the Flex SDK for drawing images or making animations, but you can write Actionscript code that imports that stuff. So, Flash and Flex aren't mutually exclusive, you can make content in Flash that you import into Flex. Or you can build things in Flex that you import into a Flash project.
So yeah, your initial hunch was about right: Flash CS3 is more for artists and Flex is for programmers.
What Flex gives you is a bunch of command line tools and a large API to work with. You write stuff in either MXML (which is similar in form and function to HTML) or Actionscript. You can write the code in your own text editor, or you can use the Flex Builder IDE (which is a glorified Eclipse plug-in).
There aren't any tools in the Flex SDK for drawing images or making animations, but you can write Actionscript code that imports that stuff. So, Flash and Flex aren't mutually exclusive, you can make content in Flash that you import into Flex. Or you can build things in Flex that you import into a Flash project.
So yeah, your initial hunch was about right: Flash CS3 is more for artists and Flex is for programmers.
Author
Let me give a small amount of information (I'm under NDA):
The Flash/Flex application is the client for a multiplayer online game, sort of like a MMO. The artwork is not created by me, so I don't need to be creating animations and artwork - he can produce Flash graphics which I would import. So we are using Flash/Flex instead of Java/C++/C# for our MMO client application.
Doe this make any difference to your recommendations? The people using it will be programmers, not artists.
The Flash/Flex application is the client for a multiplayer online game, sort of like a MMO. The artwork is not created by me, so I don't need to be creating animations and artwork - he can produce Flash graphics which I would import. So we are using Flash/Flex instead of Java/C++/C# for our MMO client application.
Doe this make any difference to your recommendations? The people using it will be programmers, not artists.
You could use either - do you have a personal preference for one or the other?
Mine is Flash.
In fact, you might be well off using both.
Even though you don't need to create art, Flash will still be better for handling movie clips, animations, etc.
But perhaps you'd like the Flex AS3 IDE better?
Mine is Flash.
In fact, you might be well off using both.
Even though you don't need to create art, Flash will still be better for handling movie clips, animations, etc.
But perhaps you'd like the Flex AS3 IDE better?
Author
I've only used Flex, and I liked the interface because it was very similar to programming in Java/C#/C++. I don't know what using Flash would be like. I'll have to download the CS3 trial and see... I think in theory I prefer Flex because it seems to be more a programmer's tool but I could be wrong. It seems unlikely our application will need pre-designed animations, except those created by the artist and supplied in .fla format for me to load in the app.
Is there anywhere which compares Flash and Flex? I had a quick search but I just got lots of results like "compare Flash/Flex to Silverlight" - I want to compare them from a developer's viewpoint.
Is there anywhere which compares Flash and Flex? I had a quick search but I just got lots of results like "compare Flash/Flex to Silverlight" - I want to compare them from a developer's viewpoint.
The company I work for develops training simulators, and for one of our recent projects we created a Flex web-based front-end which displays the simulator, and it connects to our Java-based simulation engine which is started by an inetd-like server whenever a request comes in from the Flex app.
It's not the flashiest (heh) thing in the world at the moment, but it looks just as good as the Swing interface which the simulation engine presents when not running in server mode. But overall, it is much easier to write the Flex UI in a more programmatic style than it is to try to assemble the same thing under the Flash interface and paradigms.
To summarize how our lead developer summed it up; Flash is for our artists, Flex is for our programmers, but there's plenty of overlap to go around.
It's not the flashiest (heh) thing in the world at the moment, but it looks just as good as the Swing interface which the simulation engine presents when not running in server mode. But overall, it is much easier to write the Flex UI in a more programmatic style than it is to try to assemble the same thing under the Flash interface and paradigms.
To summarize how our lead developer summed it up; Flash is for our artists, Flex is for our programmers, but there's plenty of overlap to go around.
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