I think frameworks are always a debatable topic, no matter which programming language you talk about. I personally am not even sure whether using a framework in every project you do, is such a good idea or not. But anyways, thats a separate topic. I just think that you should atleast know about the capabilities and usefulness of frameworks so if you have to use them, you should be able to.
As I have not used any Flex frameworks till now in any of my Flex projects , I wanted to give it a try. And I started looking which one is the best for a small project I was gonna start. I have heard about Cairngorm and PureMVC in the past, but I have also heard that they have a slightly steep learning curve involved. It might make sense when there is a large team working on a single project so to make sure everyone follows a common approach, but in my case, since the entire development team size is limited to just one (myself) , I wanted something simpler. Something I dont spend much time learning.
Thats when I found out this excellent framework comparison article by Jeremy Wischusen. The article clearly discusses the strength’s and weaknesses of the available Flex frameworks and after reading this article, making a choice was quite easy for me. I am really glad I read this article sooner than later.
Now, only if there was such an article somewhere for the 30 or so ColdFusion frameworks as well !!!
#1 by Brian Rinaldi on February 20, 2009 - 5:43 pm
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There are articles on this for ColdFusion. I have an older one at http://www.remotesynthesis.com/post.cfm/Mach-II-or-ColdSpring-Understanding-the-Differences-Between-ColdFusion-Frameworks but more recently, Mark Mandel published one on Devnet http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion/articles/frameworks_intro.html
#2 by Craig Kaminsky on February 20, 2009 - 5:59 pm
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There’s also an excellent series about the main Flex frameworks on InsideRIA.com by Tony Hillerson.
Based on his series, I went the Mate route for my small projects and love it! I still use PureMVC for large projects but that’s more a result of a client insisting on PureMVC, which I don’t like nearly as much as Mate.
The intro article in his 6 part series:
http://www.insideria.com/2008/12/frameworkquest-2008-introducti.html
#3 by Anuj Gakhar on February 20, 2009 - 6:23 pm
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@Brian, Thanks for the links. Mark Mandel’s article is actually very good. I totally missed it somehow. And yours is a good read as well. I didnt know these existed.
#4 by Anuj Gakhar on February 20, 2009 - 6:24 pm
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@Craig, thanks for the link. I also decided to use Mate for my personal project. How was your experience with Mate?
#5 by Paul Kukiel on February 20, 2009 - 8:43 pm
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There is also Swiz its new to me but I just watched a good presentation of it that was recorded last night http://experts.na3.acrobat.com/p98371937
Swiz code: http://code.google.com/p/swizframework/
#6 by Anuj Gakhar on February 25, 2009 - 10:07 am
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Hi Paul, Thanks for the link to the recording. I will have a look at it tonight.
#7 by consulting company delhi on March 16, 2009 - 1:26 pm
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nice article, its really good
#8 by Tyler on April 5, 2009 - 6:42 pm
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I wrote a dependency injection framework for Flex, Air, and ActionScript 3. It’s similar to Swiz, but a bit easier to learn and use (IMO).
I call it “Mainline.” I’ll be posting some examples and advanced usage tips over the next few days.
Mainline Framework
#9 by Anuj Gakhar on April 5, 2009 - 7:58 pm
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@Tyler, that sounds great. Looking forward to your examples and usage tips ? Is it similar to ColdSpring ?