What is it? - Quick Definitions of the Technologys Involved

AIR | ColdFusion | Flash Catalyst | Flash Platform | Flex

All of the technologies we teach at BFusion/BFlex are either directly from or related to* the technologies produced and supported by Adobe Systems, Inc. This page lists some definitions and links to further resources. Of course you'll also want to check out the site of our great speakers as well.

AIR

Adobe AIR is a cross-operating system runtime that lets developers combine HTML, Ajax, Adobe Flash®, and Flex technologies to deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the desktop. Adobe AIR allows developers to use familiar tools such as Adobe Dreamweaver® CS5, Flash® Builder™ 4 or any text editor to build their applications and deliver a single application installer that works across operating systems.

While the Adobe Flash Player is a browser plug-in that provides advantages for users and content creators in the browser, including the ability to deliver RIAs in the browser, Adobe AIR incorporates technologies originally developed in Flash Player and enables rich Internet applications on the desktop. Adobe AIR and Flash Player provide complementary deployment methods for the RIAs.

Sites

ColdFusion

Adobe® ColdFusion® application server and software enables developers to rapidly build, deploy, and maintain robust Internet applications for the enterprise. ColdFusion 9 allows developers to condense complex business logic into fewer lines of code.

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Books

Flash Catalyst

Adobe Flash Catalyst, a new design tool that aims to accelerate the development of rich user interfaces. The product is intended to complement Adobe's Flex development tool, which the company has rebranded as Flash Builder. Catalyst generates MXML, the XML-based language that is used to describe Flex content. Catalyst bridges the gap by providing a tool that will enable artists and designers to build interactive software experiences. Flash Catalyst will help serve the demand for richer and more user-friendly applications.

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Flash Platform

The Adobe® Flash® Platform is an integrated set of technologies and services that enable designers and developers to develop and deploy applications and content to multiple devices. The Flash Platform includes tools (Flash Professional, Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder), an open-source application framework (Flex), server-side technologies (LiveCycle Data Services and Flash Media Server) and Flash Platform Services, all of which are well integrated with each other to enable rapid design and development. In addition, the Flash runtime, which has 97% market penetration means that a single piece of code or content can be used to deliver a consistent user experience to the widest possible base of users.

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Flex

Flex is a free, open source framework for building highly interactive, expressive web applications that deploy consistently on all major browsers, desktops, and operating systems.

Flex provides a modern, standards-based language and programming model that supports common design patterns. MXML, a declarative XML-based language, is used to describe UI layout and behaviors, and the object-oriented ActionScript® 3.0 programming language is used to create client logic. Flex also includes a rich component library with more than 100 extensible UI components for creating rich Internet applications (RIAs), as well as an interactive Flex application debugger.

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