SDFUG

Just imagine being able to publish one swf file and have it run exactly the same in the browser, on your cell phone, and on a set top box connected to your TV. Now imagine if the restrictions on the swf and flv formats were gone. Now (bear with me here) imagine a consortium of hardware and software manufacturers coming together to make this into a reality! Ok, you can stop imagining now, go check it out!

http://www.adobe.com/openscreenproject/

For all those that haven’t heard the announcement yet, pretty exciting development taking place at Adobe (everyone in the group seems to be pretty close the info, but I’ll post it anyways). They just announced that they will be publishing the .swf and .flv/.f4v file format specifications. I think we can all use our imaginations about what kind of doors this opens for the format:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/adobe_to_publish_flash_file_fo.php

Our May meeting is just around the corner. We currently have one presentation planned, Sean Voisen will be presenting on persistent data storage with AIR and MySQL-Lite. If anyone else has a topic they’d like to discuss, drop me an email ( kyle@sdfug.org ) and we’ll get it setup. Other than that we’ll keep the meeting loose and just discuss whatever topics happen to be on peoples minds (this is always fun and tends to lead in some interesting directions as well, so either way it should be a great meeting!). I look forward to seeing you all there!

When:

Wednesday, May 7th

7 - 9 PM
Where:

Veoh Networks
10180 Telesis Court, 4th Floor
San Diego, CA 92121

There’s plenty of parking out front, then just take the elevators to the 4 floor. Once you get off the elevators, I’ll have signs posted with arrows directing you towards the meeting space.

ATTEND BARCAMP! This weekend, May 3rd and 4th is the 3rd annual BarCamp San Diego. All of the info about the event can be found at http://www.barcampsd.org , hope to see you all there!

Some useful information from James Ward:

Top 10 Adobe Flex Misconceptions:
http://www.infoq.com/news/2007/12/top-10-flex-misconceptions

Top 10 Mistakes When Building Flex Applications:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/ten_mistakes.html

ActionScript / Flex based UI development master. ( AKA Flex Master Flash )

We are looking for someone who take can take ActionScript and Flex and bend them to your will to create highly animated, interactive application interfaces. You will work in concert with a small, fast thinking, over-ambitious team in an attempt to bring an entire industry into the mobile millennium. Deadlines will be tight, requirements will change on the fly, but the rewards could be great, and there will ALWAYS be enough coffee.

Position Description:
Funded startup is looking for an ActionScript based UI developer to build a suite of highly interactive mini-application interfaces. You will work closely with a small development team with an emphasis on design, user experience, and over all coolness.

Responsibilities
• Taking a well written spec and turning it into a living breathing piece of UI art • Develop interface solutions in Flex/AIR environment with XML data and web services • Work with developers to define XML data and web services • Work with other developers to design object-oriented user interface framework

What You Need!
• A mastery of ActionScript 2.0/3.0
• Solid experience with Flex and AIR
• Object-oriented analysis and design knowledge is essential • Experience in developing interactive, graphic based application GUIs • Development experience in object-oriented programming language • Experience with working with XML data or web services required

Nice To Haves:
• An appreciation for good music
* An above average backhand in Table Tennis

Contact: Davidb82@mac.com

To add to your Toolbelt of Awsomeness! Jason Bartholme put a post up on his blog with links to 101 Adobe Air Resources (useful sites, tutorials, etc.). So go check it out:Build up your toolbelt of awsomeness!

I recently read a nice little article by Darron Schall (http://www.darronschall.com/weblog/archives/000149.cfm ) discussing the uselessness of getters and setters, and, after giving it some thought, I have to agree with him. The basic premise of a getter/setter is to you give access to a private property within your class, thus allowing a user of that class to alter the state of that property without knowing about or interfering with any other piece of the class. So Darron’s point is this: why not just use public properties? His point is a valid one. I think that the use of getters and setters is a bit of an old-school method that has become somewhat useless in its’ most basic form. This is not to say that getter/setters are completely useless however. They are still very useful if you want to perform some action on the data the user is setting/getting prior to updating the class or returning a value; however, for simply setting the input value to a private method of the class, there is really no point, and overall it just adds weight (in file size) to your code.

The 12th annual Webby Awards are upon us, so be sure to stop by their site and check out this years nominees!
http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=12

Sitepoint.com is giving away a copy of Adobe CS3 Web Premium to the authors of the best articles about Adobe Flex
and AIR submitted over the next four weeks. So if you’re feeling like channeling your inner Hemingway (or any other booze swilling womanizing writer) head on over to sitepoint and give it your best shot!

All of the info. on this contest can be found here: http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/04/08/write-for-sitepoint-and-win-the-adobe-cs3-web-premium-suite/