g.wygonik's flash experiments

While I had been learning iPhone development in my spare time, I got sucked into a different mobile platform for day-job work -- Google Android. Unfortunately I had to break my 9-year-old vow of never using Java ever again! I have to say working with the progression of ActionScript during that same period made getting back into Java a breeze. In fact, all of the reasons I stopped using Java in '99 were simply relics of the past and the whole language is pretty easy to jump back into these days.

I've been part of an Austin frog team working on some pretty deep Android dev work, and as that project has drawn to a close, I'll now be lending my Android skills to our Shanghai team for the next 6-7 weeks -- on-site! Yup, I get to spend the next month-plus in Shanghai.

Hopefully while I'm there I'll have some time to start a blog series I've had in my head -- Android Development for Flash Programmers. Or, more realistically, for Flex Programmers. You see, there are a lot of similarities between the two; and, at the same time there are a lot of differences. However, I think Android is a much easier platform for prototyping mobile applications than iPhone and as such it can be a good skill to have in one's back-pocket. I'll be approaching from a rather "superficial" perspective -- UI, motion-graphics, etc. -- not from a hardcore Java angle. There is plenty you can get done with the knowledge you'd have from Flash/Flex AS coding skills, so this route makes more sense to me (that, and I'm not a hardcode Java person -- see above )

While I'm interested to see what the much-talked-about Flash Player for Android will allow in terms of system service integration, I'm not going to hold me breath for anything major. I still think it is a good thing to learn OS-specific programming to really be able to get into the "knitty gritty".

I may not be able to get it all posted until after I get back, and will probably be silent until I return, but hopefully someone will find it interesting and helpful!

Cheers for the New Years and we'll see you in a few weeks!

g.