Like many Flex developers, I came to Flex development after a long stay in the Java world. For many years, Java and the surrounding community provided an exciting technical playground. Overall, the community gave developers like myself an amazing set of tools and an excellent group of thought leaders. Yet, we can look back now and realize how many silly ideas there were at the height of Java. I have long thought that Cairngorm borrows on some of my least favorite of these bad ideas, and now it looks like they are continuing down that road.

Now, they are attempting to expand from just a framework to some sort of Flex MVC framework think-tank. Yakov Fain’s reaction to this is priceless:

First, let me ask Java developers a question. Imagine that one day you wake up and read the following announcement, “As of today, Spring framework is the foundation for delivering of successful J2EE projects. In contrast to earlier versions, many parts apply across frameworks. So, if you are using Struts, JSF, and especially Tapestry, just forget about all these complex to pronounce names. From now on, no matter what framework you use, you are actually using Spring’.

Some of you would think, “Yakov is either out of his mind or is writing this blog sitting in one of the coffeshops in Amsterdam”. Wrong! I’m just reading an announcement about the upcoming release of the popular Adobe framework Cairngorm 3: http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/cairngorm/Cairngorm+3

When I first saw Cairngorm (post), it was easy to understand what they were trying to do, as the framework is so heavily influenced by the original version of Struts and the Core J2EE Patterns. Unfortunately, Struts was barely a fit for the original problems it was attempting to solve, and are completely inappropriate for building client-side applications within a real runtime. Struts used an adaptation of the MVC pattern called MVC2/Model 2, which was created to deal with building user interface within request/response model. This model is completely at odds with building a rich Internet application.

So, obviously, I find the move to hold Cairngorm up as a template for architecting Flex applications a bit concerning. Beyond that, one of the other things in the Java community that never proved to bring fruit was the desire to standardize anything and everything, which this idea seems born out of.  I am actually foggy at best with what they are trying to accomplish, and find it completely bizarre that they would try and morph a framework into this “thing.”  Do we really need some sort of Flex specific think tank on a long established pattern?  Also, it seems very bold to attempt to group the work of so many others under their umbrella.

Is this just an attempt to keep the brand name relevant of a framework whose time has come and gone?

I haven’t been very active with writing for InfoQ.com lately. My lack of activity has been primarily due to time constraints, but has also been because I have been a bit bored with the recent RIA news. So, I was excited to get ‘back in the saddle’ with a post on the release of Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2.0, as both releases are cause for excitement to anyone developing RIAs. The release will improve the development experience for Flex and AIR developers, but will also serve to move the ball forward in the space.

Here is my write up: http://www.infoq.com/news/2009/11/flash-10.1-and-air-2.0

We have posted a special Drunk on Software episode from Adobe Max 2009. I personally find this to be one of our most entertaining episodes (not overly useful, but entertaining). So, hopefully it will make you smile on this Friday.

Honestly, this episode makes me wonder if our recipe for Drunk on Software success is more of Chet and less of James and I.

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