Notoriously, version control systems are bad at handling
differences/resolving differences between binary files, and the .fla
format is binary.
With all due respect, and without getting in the middle of the 'war'
that is taking place here:
I code in AS3 very heavily and nearly 0% of my code is in the FLA file,
it's all in separate class files, which are text files - so this benefit
of flex/cvs only applies to projects that are using time-line animations
or the vector graphic assets.
Presumably in flex you would _also_ be using fla components to do custom
vector assets and time-line animations [the hybrid approach], so the
advantage of flex over flash for CVS is totally moot, IMHO. Flex uses
flash fla's when needed; just like AS3 uses flash fla's when needed too.
With regards to the MXML vs. AS3. MXML is great, but it's not impossible
to do it all via AS3 and have a great interface doing it. I've written
re-usable classes that take care of much of the UI advantages of MXML;
making MXML less of a vital addition to my pallet than if I was fresh to
Flash/Flex. If I want a liquid design, I just initialize my custom
liquid AS3 class; if I want a left nav, I just instantiate a leftNav
class [and pass it the UI element/object as part of the constructor].
And unlike components that need to be skinned, I can set up my AS3 files
to simply accept ANY asset/object I want; the only pre-requisit is that
the asset follows some standard convention. So for me to make a custom
pre-loader couldn't be more simple.
I would agree that all languages can become spaghetti. AS3 is no
exception as I can personally testify to major de-noodling in my painful
but well paid debugging career...
;)
The pros and cons listed between the two by others are valid. Let me
also add that Flex is really great if you were a developer/programmer
coming to Flash; whereas AS3/Flash is more approachable if you are a
designer/animator coming to Programming.
Since Flex there has been a flood gate of programmers from other
languages moving to flash because the Flex environment is familiar to
them; hence easily absorbed - this is a goodness for Flash because Flash
has been evolving. But I've been playing with flash now ever since Flash
3; and I can assure you that back then there was mainly designers and
animators who were 'advanced' if they also knew HTML, let alone
Javascript or Java or C. Those original flash people have either become
hybrid designer/animator/programmers; left the boat, or focussed on
time-line/animation/UI design at the exclusion of the programming evolution.
Seb.
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