Thats a very interesting question and I would love to read what others have to say, my personal take on the situation is this..
When faced with a similar situation about 2 years ago I opted to build my application using the Eclipse RCP framework. I definitely recommend investigating that option as the infra-structure for a lot of the standard application features is already there: undo / redo, copy / paste, drag and drop, ui controls (SWT), wizards etc..not forgetting that the whole eclipse plugin ecosystem which you can use. Saying that, I dont think a transition to java itself is particularly difficult, but rather the concepts and knowledge required for programming Eclipse takes quite some time to learn (although of course there are numerous examples including eclipse itself) For me I think the time I saved from using RCP (i.e. how long would it take me to build those components by hand in flash) outweighed the time it took to learn how to use it, also once you know how to build eclipse plugins you can build your own plugins to further automate development. I still do most of my work with flash, but personally I think it still has some way to come before I would consider it for a 'large-scale' desktop application. Im looking forward to when that day arrives and AIR is a good step forwards but I think the application infrastructure required on top of that isnt there yet. I look forward to hearing other perspectives. martin. sebastian wrote: > hello OS flashers! > > I have a high-level question and I would be very keen on hearing your > advice on a heart felt subject of mine. > > Recently a group of people, including myself, decided to band together > to make some software. It's all ecological minded, ethical business > model and generally very exciting, flowery and ideal. > :) > > Now most of us are good AS coders, OOP etc. but we are not "std" > application developers. > > The scope of the project has grown, and our requirements list is > becoming quite large. So we have arrived at a crucial decision point. > > We are thinking of releasing a bare-essential release at first of the > application, but we would like to build something that we can eventually > flush out to the full extent of our vision in later releases, and this > has started to make me a bit concerned about the technology decision we > should make. > > Essentially we want to code an application that is fully featured with > all the standard application features of a typical CAD+calender system: > undo/redo, copy-paste, save, edit, open, revert to save, save as, view > option filters, print, print, view rotations, selection lists etc.etc.etc. > > The application has to run online but also off line [with off line data > sets that would be installed/copied, periodically updated/dl'ed]. > > The data itself [= XML output files] has to be encrypted somehow and the > application decryption method protected from hacking/code-sniffing [have > not had the time to research if this is possible in flash] > > My question is, if by developing in flash we are painting ourselves into > a corner? > > I also can't weigh the pros and cons of developing in standard > application-lingo because my expertise is narrow-casted to AS. > > I find here and there sprinkles of code/libraries for undo/redo [Command > Pattern], and it may very well be I can solve all the issues - but would > all these things be easier and more future-proof in standard code? If > so, much-much easier? Or only slightly so? > > Practically we have an issue that if we decide to not use AS for the > application we are missing developers [hehe, no small issue] - so the > thought has crossed my mind to code it anyways in flash [assuming it is > not like drinking arsenic]; and then if the application is really > successful/appreciated: porting it to standard application code IF we > seem stuck at that point... > > Thoughts? > > Sorry this was a bit of a long post, but I wanted to make sure you all > understood my situation well enough to guide me. > :) > > BTW, if any of you are interested in joining an ethical AS project > [everyone is part-owner // co-op style and the subject is ecological] - > then naturally, please let me know! We still need one or two more coders > [assuming this thread pans out pro:flash that is] > ;) > > With kindness, > > Sebastian. > > _______________________________________________ > osflash mailing list > [email protected] > http://osflash.org/mailman/listinfo/osflash_osflash.org > _______________________________________________ osflash mailing list [email protected] http://osflash.org/mailman/listinfo/osflash_osflash.org
