flash vs flex for android development

3
votes

I've seen some videos using Flash and others using catalyst/Builder. I'm not sure which to start learning, I'm very interested though. I'm comfortable with flash (and have new 5.5 creative) but feel like builder/catalyst will eventually be more powerful.

what are the advantages and disadvantages of them (is there somewhere I can read up on this if it's too long of an answer?)

are there any good websites or books that really dig into the actual code from beginner to advanced? I don't even know where to look, the documentation is just very overwhelming. how would you advise even beginning? I don't want to get into bad habbits. i.e. learn in Flash then find out that I am limited by the program, or learn bad coding practices.

4
flashapache-flexactionscriptairflash-builder
What kind of app are you looking to develop? - Jason Towne

4 Answers

5
votes

Short Answer: Flash CS is a designer tool to make animations/visual elements. Flash Builder is a development tool to create code to make it all work. They can be used together, or not at all.

Flex is a UI framework that runs on the Flash Player to create rich internet applications very quickly. It's a very developer oriented language but does have some styling/skinning involved.

Either way, you'll need Flash Builder if you are to create any kind of complicated application since the code editor in Flash CS is crap.

1
votes

It all depends on what you want to achieve.

First of all, flash and flex are basically the same. They have the same runtime (Flash player). This means that everything you can do in Flash, you could be able to do in flex as well and vice versa.

However the main differences are that Flash is more prone to be used as a tool to build animations, games, websites. It does not depend as heavy on a framework as flex does. Some resources:

Flex can be considered as a tool for enterprise development. As stated before it is based on flash but it offers you a lot of out of the box stuff like layout managers, hooks for localization, framework view components, ... Flex 4.5 even supports mobile applications out of the box, you can just create a new mobile project and off you are. Some good resources to get you started:

Cheers

0
votes

Answer is very simple.

Flash CS 5 mostly used for developing application or website that involved some high animations and off course timeline. Flash Builder 4.5.

develop application with more supported on code hinting/profiling, code unit testing, micro architecture support like caringorm, pureMVC.

based on your application requirements. If your application need more comprehensive modules, back-end communication then use Flash builder otherwise use Flash CS.

But i prefer to use Flash builder 4.5(because i am in flex from last three years) due to its debugging and easy to mange the action script code features.

-1
votes

The Flex framework is built on the ActionScript 3.0 language, which is an object oriented programming language. Many people will argue that you don't really need to know ActionScript in order to learn Flex, but if you have a basic understanding of object oriented principles, specifically those that pertain to ActionScript, then Flex will be a lot easier to learn. Flex applications are typically built using Flash Builder.

On the other hand, if you have no object oriented programming experience, you might find it easier to develop the same applications using Flash CS, which has a timeline similar to most movie editors. While these applications are still technically built on ActionScript, the majority of coding is hidden from you.

Very Good Flex/ActionScript resources:

I've never used Flash CS and don't know of any resources off hand, but you should be able to find them on Adobe's website.

I learn better from books, since they are more linear than the web, and therefor not as overwhelming. If the information in these links seems overwhelming to you, I would start with the two books mentioned.