Internet and Technology

Silverlight Technology developed by Microsoft incorporates the same functionalities as Adobe flash. It helps integrate graphics, multimedia, animation, and interactivity in one runtime environment. The latest version of the technology was introduced in July 2009. The technology gels well with Microsoft windows as well as Mac operating system.

Why use Silverlight?

High definition video files can be viewed with Silverlight Technology and Microsoft will responsible for transferring these files to the Internet. The transfer of large media files is expensive but Microsoft will still take the trouble to stream Silverlight media files. However, the service will be optional. Streaming done by microsoft will save content distribution network fees for small developers. According to Microsoft, 700 kbps throughput will be reliable and the free distribution of network content will last for a year.

In addition, the applications based on Silverlight Technology are delivered to browser in XAML. The advantage of using XAML is that it is easier for the search engines to find scan XAML than compiled Flash applications. The Flash based applications have an added web code which facilitates the search but adding that means extra work for developers. Even if the web code is added to the application, the result will not be as good. This is because Silverlight Technology helps search engines index the actual application instead of just searching for the keywords.

Lastly, Microsoft is marketing Silverlight Technology along with its live services. It is introducing Application Program Interfaces (APIs) for search engine, Virtual Earth, instant messenger and other services. Microsoft networks and resources will be used to create these services which will be supported by advanced online applications. Silverlight Technology will spearhead the development of Rich Internet Applications because of these reasons.

Flex 3 with Java is a new book from Packt that guides developers in building rich web applications using the Flex 3 framework. Written by Satish Kore, a Flex enthusiast and evangelist, this book helps readers build an end-to-end Flex e-commerce application using all major features of Flex 3.

Flex is an effective, free open source framework used to develop Rich Internet Applications for browsers, desktops, and operating systems. It provides a modern, standards-based language and a program model that supports common design patterns.

Developers will learn to build Flex applications with ActionScript 3.0, BlazeDS 3.2, and Java. This book will help readers mix ActionScript and MXML language to write Flex applications and use Flex Builder 3 and Ant Script to package them. Readers will be able to debug their applications, design CSS files, use data access methods, use RPC services and create custom components.

Flex users will learn to build a sample book explorer application with XML using the E4X approach, and use Adobe LiveCycle Data Services and BlazeDS components for accessing server-side data. Using Resource Manager class, they will localize Flex applications and with internationalization techniques they will be able to customize the application for multiple locales. They will also discover data access methods such as HTTPService, WebService, and RemoteObjects with code examples

Java developers, professionals or system analysts interested in developing Rich Internet Applications using Flex 3 will find this book useful. This book is out now and is available from Packt. For more information, please visit http://www.packtpub.com/flex-3-with-java/book