Please is there anyone here with experience in Adobe FLEX please indicate i have one or two questions for you

I played around with it a while back, I'll answer as much as my much limited knowledge permits.

I heard it can be used to create native android, iphone and blackberry apps All-in-one is it true?

2, can it be used to create games on those platforms?

3, is there any language i need to know before starting?

4, do you think it has a future? Because i heard flash will soon be stopped on mobile...

Letme stop here for now ...

considering the iphone doesnt run flash, that might not be true but there are apps that compile to Cocoa and Objective-C. For blackberry and android, am sure flexbuilder libraries/plugins exist for compiling to android and bb respectively but natively (to the best of my knowledge its not possible) no.

Check out the Ripple SDK for Blackberry, it might have such facilities(am not sure).

Flex's core language is ActionScript 3 which happens to be a flavour of Javascript( or ECMA-script if you want to nitpick). If your javascript is strong, picking up actionscript should be easy (you only have to learn the objects to use and the documentation in flexbuilder is superb).

As for its future, well I cant really say but Javascript is here to stay.

I would suggest you master Javascript. That would put you in prime position to use Flex, JQuery, MongoDB and so many new technologies.

Thanks, but are you saying it cant be used to develop Ios apps because that was my main target...i already know Android and Blackberry should be easy to pick up...

I googled it. turns out FlexBuilder 4.5 allows you to package an app for IOS and all those other platforms.

Check here. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/articles/packaging-air-apps-ios.html

All the best.

^ Thanks once again, Does anybody know if it can be used to create games for those platforms?

yea... It can be used for game developement on both platforms... I think Games are at most platform independent... Open GL ES is OPEN GL ES it doesn't matter where u got the API from

^ Thanks..

I had used adobe AIR at some point. It allows the use of javascript, actionscript as well as flex. It had the advantage of building apps across platforms without having to worry*
it had a feature called captive runtime. Which just means you can create an app which the AIR runtime is integrated already. Therefore write a program and just run on another pc no installation needed. It allows you to run apps on ioS just choose that while exporting from flash builder.

you are better off learning objective C and developing without limitation on the mac or (on virtual box with OSX as guest on Windows, thats if you cant afford a mac)

Some APIs are not available to you if you are using AS3

adewaleafolabi: I had used adobe AIR at some point. It allows the use of javascript, actionscript as well as flex. It had the advantage of building apps across platforms without having to worry*
it had a feature called captive runtime. Which just means you can create an app which the AIR runtime is integrated already. Therefore write a program and just run on another pc no installation needed. It allows you to run apps on ioS just choose that while exporting from flash builder.

that thing you mentioned made me feel butterflies in my stomach when i first heard it. I havent had the time to work on it.
how i wish men were made with thread support

Javanian,
Yes I use Flex, and it is not dead.
Flash is dead, but not AIR, which is what FLEX runs on.
The PR folks at Adobe did a terrible job communicating this to people hence the mass confusion.

And yes you can use it to create semi-native apps for all mobile platforms people actually care about.
I say semi because....well...it's not as bad as webkits (The frameworks you commonly see around), but not as good as native.
But guess what, it's THE BEST thing out there that makes sense from a business perspective and thus, making it even better than native!

Who wants to spend time managing 5 different codebases for the same application?!
Better to have it all as one. Write once, build for everything.

It packages the AIR platform along with your app as well, so your users need not have anything else preinstalled on their devices before it works. It just works. Flex also allows native plugins in case you need something that they haven't already put in (which for most cases is highly unlikely).

If you want to have fun learning how to code native apps, by all means do so, but if you want to get things moving quickly and easily apply changes to your app across all versions and introduce a manageable structure to the madness, Flex is a great way to go.

Thanks @all

I've finally made up my mind on which way to go...And am not learning actionscript or FLEX anymore...

I'll be using JavaFX
why?

1, it can be used to create browser based games (just like flex)

2, Applications created with javafx can run on desktop (just like flex)

3, it also runs on java phones, symbian OS and windows phones

4, i dont need to learn another technology (am very lazy)

with java i can also create Android and blackberry games...IOS can wait...

This is why i like java...you can use one stone to kill many birds

Javanian: I've finally made up my mind on which way to go...And am not learning actionscript or FLEX anymore...

I'll be using JavaFX
why?

1, it can be used to create browser based games (just like flex)

2, Applications created with javafx can run on desktop (just like flex)

3, it also runs on java phones, symbian OS and windows phones

4, i dont need to learn another technology (am very lazy)

with java i can also create Android and blackberry games...IOS can wait...

This is why i like java...you can use one stone to kill many birds

exactly why programmers should start with C++

lordZOUGA:
exactly why programmers should start with C++

why??

Javanian: I've finally made up my mind on which way to go...And am not learning actionscript or FLEX anymore...

I'll be using JavaFX
why?

1, it can be used to create browser based games (just like flex)

2, Applications created with javafx can run on desktop (just like flex)

3, it also runs on java phones, symbian OS and windows phones

4, i dont need to learn another technology (am very lazy)

with java i can also create Android and blackberry games...IOS can wait...

This is why i like java...you can use one stone to kill many birds

...where did you see javafx working on mobile right now? Are you sure you are not using outdated info?
Like javafx1?

Erm...luv, its only really works on desktop and windows 8 (which is kinda like desktop) and some defunct symbian tinz.
And thats actually v1, which has been deprecated. V2 doesnt even do any mobile yet.

It doesn't even support android or blackberry yet talk of ios.
I guess you could use javafx if youre comfortable waiting another 2 years or so for oracle to moe it along.

Javanian:

why??

cos if you knew C++, you wouldn't bother with learning any other language to develope for those named OS

2buff:
It doesn't even support android or blackberry yet talk of ios.

i never said it does...read my post again...

2buff:
And thats actually v1, which has been deprecated. V2 doesnt even do any mobile yet.

This is why i always come to nairaland before learning anything new...i would have wasted my time learning something i would later regret...Thanks for the info...i have already started Actionscript and flex, i guess i will stick to it...

lordZOUGA:
cos if you knew C++, you wouldn't bother with learning any other language to develope for those named OS

Do you use C++ for web applications and IOS?

Javanian:

This is why i always come to nairaland before learning anything nw...i would have wasted my time learning something i would later regret...Thanks for the info...i have already started Actionscript and flex, i guess i will stick to it...

Good choice. Its not that hard to learn so don't sweat it.
Syntax is like a mix btwn JavaScript and java.

Don't worry, you'll soon get to the point where u c programmingI as just logic and syntax. So long as you have your logic in place (oop principles, design patterns, etc), any new syntax is a breeze to learn.

That is how real software developers stay relevant, otherwise one may find themself in 8 years time being like all these guys who fancy themselves to be programmers but only know Cobol or some ish...

Javanian:

Do you use C++ for web applications and IOS?

yes... Check this out http://webtoolkit.eu
Its a C++ framework for webapps... And its very awesome... The concept is for developers to be able to develope web apps by instantiating widgets... Just like desktop GUI developement
as for IOS am sure there are plenty of C++ libraries for that...

Html5 and webkits dont have access to your phones vibrate ability...among other things

Flex is the best alternative for cross platform development for Android(kindle Samsung etc), Blackberry, ios(ipad,iphone),Desktop and WEb(windows,MAC,Linux). The concept is any device that has AIR running(not Flash) u can produce apps for it, even TVs. Flex Framework is combination of MXML and Actionscript. MXML is just like XAML(silverlight) and javaFX, and mind you all this other techs actually adopted this model from Adobe Flex. Flex has loads of libraries and resources for building really amazing entreprise apps and games.