The ECMA has released resources to the public reflecting the 4th edition of the standard. Being that ActionScript implements the ECMAScript standard, these future implementations will most likely become part of ActionScript in the future.

Adobe has members on the committee which is evident as many of the new features are following ActionScript 3’s lead (such as strict and standard modes).

The link below is a good starting point to see where ActionScript, not to mention Java, C# and many other languages will be heading in the future.

http://developer.mozilla.org/es4/proposals/proposals.html

Adobe released the updated FAQ for Apollo last week. If you are not familiar with Apollo, it is a cross-operating system runtime being developed by Adobe. Apollo aplications can be developed using either the Flex framework, Flex Builder, Flash 9, or html and Javascript. It is a standalone runtime that dows not require a browser.

To learn more about this revolutionary runtime from Adobe read the FAQ: http://labs.adobe.com/

In order to build and debug an RIA or web application which utilizes external data sources such as web services, xml etc, a good, quality network monitor is needed. Flex 1.5 had a built in Network Monitor that could easily be accessed in the Flex 1.5 IDE. However I have yet to find the same functionality available in Flex 2.0

At my day job I am building applications in Flex 2.0 / ActionScript 3.0 and although there are some good debugging tools available I have found that there seems to be a lack of an easy to use Network Monitor.

I have been using Charles, a great Network Debugger which is capable of displaying soap messages. xml, AMF, and various other HTTP protocols in an easy to view fashion. This type of HTTP monitoring is crucial to anyone who is building RIA’s with Flex 2.0

Check it out at http://xk72.com/charles/

I built a custom messageboard for my site in ActionScript 3 / Flex 2.0 with the backend built in PHP / MySQL.

The purpose of the messageboard is so users can post their thoughts regarding my site. So feel free to post your comments, suggestions and what you like or don’t like, and how I can make the site better.

Click here to post your thoughts.