PURE ACTIONSCRIPT vs FLEX vs LASZLO
Vicker | October 25, 2005 | 12:25 amIs been a while since my last blog. It is because other assignments hooking me quite a while slowing down my FYP progress. I will chase back this week ^^Last week Andy have given me some wiki references on AFLAX. Having some research on different kinds of technologies and development methodology, the following is my little comparison on them.PURE ACTIONSCRIPT- ECMAScript-based programming language- control Macromedia Flash movies and applicationAdvantage:- flexible and can perform all of the functions in Flash- able to have more rigid linkage between the objects inside the movie and the objects’ class- only Flash player (free) is enough to use the compiled SWF fileDisadvantage:- not easy to learn- the tier concept is not clear, where Flash is both the control and presentation tiersMACROMEDIA FLEX- application server which can compiles Flex mark up language (MXML) and Actionscript to binary SWF file- built in functions and interfaces, e.g. dragNdrop, charting, animation effectsAdvantage:- easy to learn because user dont need to learn Actionscript and also the drawings inside Flash- clearly defined presentation tier for Flash- having standard user interface which increases usabilityDisadvantage:- it costs much (US15000 per CPU quoted from Wikipedia)- not flexible enough, cannot use the full power of FlashLASZLO- presentation server which conpiles LZX to binary SWF files- built in functions and interfaces like Macromedia FlexAdvantage:- the same as Macromedia Flex with an addition that it is freeDisadvantage:- again cannot use the full power of Flash- installation of the server is necessary which it is not always possible for those who pay for web hostingCONCLUSIONIn order to make the product more portable, i.e. can allow any user who have a web space can use it. Pure Actionscript is the best choice. Furthermore, some more powerful Flash functions can be used, e.g. the new Bitmap class in Flash 8 which allows the export of every pixel inside the movie.
