Is actionscript 3.0 strong enough to finally be my sole server-side language?

views:

258

answers:

+4 Q:

Is actionscript 3.0 strong enough to finally be my sole server-side language?

Actionscript 3.0 is much more powerful than its previous versions. Does this mean that I can start using it as my sole server-side language? can it connect to the database just like coldfusion or php? What is it that it can't do on the server-side?

Thanks

How strong it is largely depends on your own requirements, and the job at hand.

What you could do is list the requirements that matter to you, for example, documentation, ease of debugging, community support, vendor support, ease of deployment etc. For each language you want to compare, score how each one does on these requirements.

If you score Actionscript 3 the highest, you'll have answered your own question :)

However, one of your requirements is "can develop server-side code for HTML generation like PHP", and you'll find Actionscript scoring rather low there. While a limited server-side actionscript is available in Flash Media Server, it is more for providing services to client-side Flash applications than delivering HTML.

Paul Dixon 2009-11-24 08:39:09

thanks for the added info, even though it turns out AS3 isn't exactly server-side in the way I thought it was. But still good info and comments.

perez 2009-11-24 11:21:22

+8 A:

Short answer: NO, Actionscript 3 is client-side, since Flash is client-side technology.

Long answer: haXe

danii 2009-11-24 08:42:21

Thanks for the answer, but it confused me a little. How is Actionscript a client-side language if we save the .as files on the server?

perez 2009-11-24 09:04:58

mmm yes it seems you are a little bit confused. Client-side means that the script is executed on the client, not on the server, although the files will always be stored in the server. Please read the wikipedia entry on "client-side" for more info. As for .as files, it doesn't matter where we put them, since they will be compiled into a .swf (the flash movie), which will be then run by the flash player on the client's browser (unless we make use of something fancy like Adobe AIR).

danii 2009-11-24 09:33:22

I develop server-side Actionscript for Flash Media Server, so you can consider it a server-side language. Not quite the same as PHP though, as its intended to talk to client side Flash applications, rather than generating HTML pages.

Paul Dixon 2009-11-24 10:05:07

As far as I know, FMS uses Action Script 1 for its logic, so still no as3... but anyways the question was really nothing about FMS

danii 2009-11-24 10:16:06

Think about why javascript isn't a server side language

Amarghosh 2009-11-24 10:17:19

@Amarghosh - there are many examples of server-side javascript - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-side_JavaScript

Paul Dixon 2009-11-24 10:47:05

+2 A:

RedRocket Server is an example of AS3 running server-side. I don't know how far along the project is, but you might want to check it out.

joshtynjala 2009-11-25 22:10:02

+1 A:

Sure you can use ActionScript 3 as server side language. Check www.components4developers.com. We have an n-tier tool that allows an application server to host AS3 functionality, Java functionality, C++ and Delphi functionality in the same server at the same time. The functionality (called services) can make interservice calls (to other services in the app server).

Similarly they can be called from clients written in C++, Delphi, PHP, Java, ActionScript 3, pure C and more.

best regards Kim Madsen

Kim Madsen 2009-11-28 21:57:49

ansaurus

tags:

views:

answers:

Is actionscript 3.0 strong enough to finally be my sole server-side language?

related questions