how much effective is a frameworks for RIA in long run ?

Question

hi , i am pretty newbie in terms of flex/RIA frameworks. mostly done work on server side. as i search on internet , people are using a lot different framework, cairngorm to mate. so my question is , as i am baby stepping through flex, should i go for learning framework ? or without framework ? ( as of now , those DI,DAO,VO and IoC doesnt make much sense to me apart from full form. ) . i needed to do pretty serious stuff after around eight month or so. should that be enough time for learning flex ? thanks in advance. ( also any link or pointers are welcome -- althogh i have spend whole my day googling around and making hello worlds...) . how to become master of RIA FLEX ?

Answer 1

Before you jump into frameworks, learn Flex/ActionScript on its own. Figure out how to compose a real application and get everything working without the framework.

Once you're comfortable building an application from scratch, then start looking at Frameworks and pick the one that best suits your needs/methods.

That way you have a good foundation to build off of rather than relying on the Framework to do everything for you.

Answer 2

I would start without any frameworks so you can get use to creating forms, skin, classes and event handling. Once you are comfortable with that, then grab a framwork.

Check out Tour De Flex for some great examples of basic flex code.

Answer 3

I'm going to disagree with the other answers and say that you should start off with a framework. Any of the flex frameworks will come along with base of documentation that tells you how you should structure your code and a user culture following that tells you why you should structure your code that way. Starting off on your own won't expose you to some of the lessons that the designers of the different frameworks have learned and baked into their systems. Additionally, since prototypes tend to get pushed into production, starting with a framework now will save you a lot of time rewriting your code when you decide that you need to transfer over to a more defined structure from the ad-hoc application architecture you designed before knowing flex.

Right now I'm using a very lightweight framework that's (roughly) based on Swiz, but I also like Mate.

Answer 4

I would suggest learn the technology first (concepts and syntax) and then use a framework.Since you mentioned you have done lot of serverside coding, i would suggest after learning the basics of flex (refer to http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html), learn cairngorm as it would naturally come to you, since it follows the same principles of regular MVC pattern.