Flash Speaks Actionscript

The day that many of us have been waiting for has arrived. Today, beta versions of both Flash Builder 4 and Flash Catalyst are now available for download via Adobe Labs. The two new beta releases have been in closed beta for quite some, but as of today the doors are now opened.

A Little Bit About the Two

Flash Builder(formerly Flex Builder) 4 delivers a long list of new features, plus improvements to many existing features.There are three main themes to this release: developer productivity, designer-developer work-flow, and data-centric application development.

As for Flash Catalyst, this new tool looks to vastly improve designer/developer work-flow when dealing with the Flex Framework and development of RIAs.

Further Readings:

While the news of the beta releases of Flash Builder 4 and Flash Catalyst is still young, I have compiled a list of resources that will help you get up to date topic. Enjoy!

• Overview of Flex 4(Gumbo)
• Top 10 Changes in Flex 4
• Beta versions of Flash Catalyst and Flex on Labs
• What’s new in Flash Builder 4 beta
• Learn to Use Flash Builder 4 and Flex 4 SDK

Now that some of the Flash Catalyst hype has died down some, this demo is sure to get some of its potential fans pretty excited all over again.  Here is Kevin Lynch’s Keynote from the Web 2.0 conference where he shows how to build a full application using Illustrator, Flash Catalyst, Flex Builder, Flex and the Facebook ActionScript 3 API.

I know Flash Catalyst was meant to bring life to static comps with extreme ease, but WOW it looks like it is bringing a whole new level to “ease of use”.  Hmmmm…I just wonder what that code looks like!   Enjoy the video!