# Flash Development



## HenriHelvetica

... is what I'm learning today. 

Funny. The prof started by saying:

_"we know that apple dropped Flash, and ppl are saying that Flash is dead, but there's still tons of work out there"._

Either way, they're starting us from scratch but this should be fun. I've not touch scratch since Bush was in office (BUSH 1). BTW, what are the web animation alternatives?

Any Flash devs out here want to share experiences?


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## groovetube

Many years experience in flash. Yes flash was dropped from apple, but there remains a load of work out there, particularly if you are very advanced as the pool out there has thinned. (not a bad thing).
Not to mention flash has developed some f the top selling games on the app store.

Having worked extensively in both, html5/js etc doesn't hold a candle to flash yet.


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## WCraig

It had to be done:


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## groovetube

ha ha tell that to the guys making more than you and I times 10 with top games.

That should read RIP flash player. (even though it's still going strong on desktops)

The IDE is changing with the times.


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## WCraig

When do they have time to work on the IDE??


Adobe - Security bulletins and advisories

FLASH PLAYER

Version 11.x
Brief	Originally Posted	Last Updated
APSB13-11 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	4/9/2013	4/9/2013
APSB13-09 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	3/12/2013	3/12/2013
APSB13-08 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	2/26/2013	2/26/2013
APSB13-05 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	2/12/2013	2/12/2013
APSB13-04 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	2/7/2013	2/12/2013
APSB13-01 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	1/8/2013	3/7/2013
APSB12-27 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	12/11/2012	12/11/2012
APSB12-24 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	11/6/2012	11/6/2012
APSB12-22 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	10/8/2012	11/2/2012
APSB12-19 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	8/21/2012	9/28/2012
APSB12-18 Security update available for Adobe Flash Player	8/14/2012	8/14/2012
APSB12-14 Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player	6/8/2012	6/28/2012
APSB12-09 Security update available for Adobe Flash Player	5/4/2012	5/4/2012
APSB12-07 Security update available for Adobe Flash Player	3/28/2012	4/5/2012
APSB12-05 Security update available for Adobe Flash Player	3/5/2012	3/5/2012
APSB12-03 Security update available for Adobe Flash Player	2/15/2012	2/15/2012
APSB11-28 Security update available for Adobe Flash Player	11/10/2011	11/10/2011

Craig


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## groovetube

Not sure if you're up on where it is now. The IDE is still a fantastic development platform, tough to say where things will be a few years from now. As for developing actual swf files for webpages, well it's dead mostly except for ads.

Flash player is slowly becoming a dead horse.


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## aylwin

Try Adobe Edge for an alternative.


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## absolutetotalgeek

Been using Flash since the Director days - People been ragging on it ever since for one reason or another. Problem with Flash is that it has such a great development environment but it has been used and gets used for things far outside of what it's designed for, as is the case with a lot of tools utilized in 'webdev'. 

AS is hugely powerful if you know what you're doing, capable of some pretty crazy sh*t. 

Really? FP security prompts? LoL! You can post that kinda thing for damn near every delivery system out there, but ya no doubt, Flash Player in recent times has become a bit of a screen-door and kind a fell apart, not sure how long it can last really. 

I don't do much with it these days, still for whipping up fast interactive/creative vector assets when asked, still the best tool for the job. 

Egde feels disjointed and like a patch worked application to me, there's something just not right with it, but then again like I said I don't do much of 'that' type of work anymore. 

If I do any webwork these days I'm using Hype for the most part. It isn't Flash, it does a nice job on some Flash-like interactions and functions though, well enough that it's very useful.


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## CubaMark

I'm far from a seasoned programmer... but I have also been using Tumult's Hype for the past year or so. It was developed to give folks an alternative to Flash, and can be used for some pretty broad purposes, from animated iBook work, to game development, to website creation. 

And one thing remains relevant regarding Flash's future: You still can't see Flash-based material in websites on any Apple iOS device.... and there are a *lot* of 'em out there....


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## groovetube

Flash is currently used for a lot of game development, and iOS apps, it's been able to produce native iOS code for some time. Also the createJS project is maturing.

It is, still one of the more fantastic authoring environments, far more mature than most, it's a question of how and when people can make use of it to author high end interactive with custom code rather than spit out crap from some, to make use of JS, CSS3 etc. It'd be a shame to see that environment die completely. It was the flash player that stunk in the end.


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## Joker Eh

Adobe stopped development of its mobile Flash. So with the desktop environment shrinking its a waste of time.


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## groovetube

developing for the flash player itself, yes. For iOS and others, no, it's raging in that regard. A number of top grossing games in the app store was developed in the flash IDE.

I have not had time enough to get up to speed the many differences now in the IDE yet, besides reading and checking out the new methods and practices for developing for a different path. I keep meaning to since I have a very expert strong background in the IDE. Will be interesting to see how it fares in the next few years as they continue transitioning it away from the flash player export altogether. I think the only work there, is ads.


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## gochi123

is learning flash a viable career?


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## CubaMark

*Flash is Dead. Or not. Well, it has a new name...*

*Adobe Flash Is Now Called Animate. But It's Still a Mess.*








The platform that was until yesterday known as Adobe Flash Professional CC is now Adobe Animate CC. What does that mean? According to an Adobe statement announcing the change, it’s part of an ongoing commitment to “evolve to support multiple standards,” specifically HTML5. In practice, though, the answer is: not much. Meet the new Flash, same as the old Flash, and still a security-addled, closed-off mess.

The good news, at least, is Adobe seems to acknowledge the inevitability of an HTML5 world. A simple rebranding, though, doesn’t do much to get us there.​(Wired)​
*Tumult *took advantage of the announcement to preview v. 3.5 of Hype.


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## eMacMan

FWIW on Snow Leopard. Flash is still showing itself to be up to date, app is set to never update and version agrees with the last version I installed.


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## absolutetotalgeek

The security issues are with the Flash player not the development environment itself. This is where Adobe needs to gets it's head of it's butt - Changes coming with Animate are nice, well if they work and it isn't a convoluted mess as Adobe is prone to creating. 

However it's all going to be moot if Adobe can't get a handle on Flash player/security and deployment issues.

Learning Flash/AS is still very much a viable career enhancement, I'm not sure though if I'd want to make it a core skill set. I've been using it since it was a plugin for Director way back when but I use it in conjunction with other things, video editing, AF work etc.... It's a complimentary thing and I personally don't see Animate going away anytime soon.


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## wtl

I don't know how much effort I would put into Flash today. Sure, there are still jobs out there, but realistically, anything done in Flash has to be duplicated for HTML5 delivery. Eventually, someone's going to ask why they're paying for both.

I think you'd be better off investing your efforts into becoming awesome with more modern technologies.


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