adobe is from mars, microsoft is from uranus. a look at two competing web stacks

Adobe is from Mars, Microsoft is

from Uranus

Jun Heider, esq. & Dr. Eric Fickes

Who we are

•Jun Heider

•Web: http://www.iheartair.com

•Email: jun@realeyes.com

•Twitter: @coderjun

•Eric Fickes

•Twitter: @ericfickes

What to expect

•Flex talk @ 200 level

•Silverlight/MS talk @ 100 level

•Fuzzy comparison between Flex v3 and v4 and Silverlight v3 and v4

BACKGROUNDRuntimes

Runtimes

Flash Player

• Version 10 Release (10.1 in beta)

• Runtime installer size:

• Windows: ~1.8 MB (v10)

• Mac: ~5.7 MB (v10)

• Market Penetration:

• 90%+

Silverlight

• Version 3 Release (4 in beta)

• Runtime installer size:

• Windows: ~4.7 MB (v3)

• Mac: ~8.7 MB (v3)

• Market Penetration:

• 50%+

Runtimes

Flash Player

• Backward compatible all the way back to the first version

• JIT compiler since version 9.

• Runs SWF files

Silverlight

• Silverlight 3 player not backward compatible with previous content.

• Silverlight 4 player will be backward compatible with version 3.

• JIT compiler coming with version 4.

• Runs XAP files

BACKGROUNDLanguages

Languages

Flex

• MXML

• ActionScript

Silverlight

• XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language)

• .NET

• C#

• VB.NET

• IronRuby

• IronPython

BACKGROUNDTooling/Workflow

Tooling/Workflow

Flex Platform

• Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/Fireworks

• Adobe Flash Catalyst (beta for Flex 4)

• Flash Builder

• OR Some text editor + Flex SDK for FREE

Silverlight Platform

• Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator

• Sketchflow

• Expression Blend

• Visual Studio 2008 sp 1 +

• OR Visual Web Developer Express + Silverlight SDK for FREE

Tooling/Workflow

Flex Platform

• Flex 4: Round trip between Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator and Flash Catalyst

• Flex 4: One way from Flash Catalyst to Flash Builder (Out of the box)

• Use the main dev tools on Windows and Mac

Silverlight Platform

• Round trip between Expression Blend and Visual Studio

• Use the main dev tools on Windows only…

DEMONSTRATIONTooling/Workflow

BACKGROUNDSDK/Features

Components

Flex Platform

• Extensive

• Access to Source Code

• Good Number of 3rd Party

Silverlight Platform

• Extensive

• Access to Source Code

• Good Number of 3rd Party

Features

Flex Platform

• Data Binding

• Event Handling

• Layout

• Navigation ( View states, View Stacks)

• Controls

• DataGrid

• Data Visualization

• Styling

Silverlight Platform

• Data Binding

• Event Handling

• Layout

• Navigation (Silverlight Navigation Framework)

• Controls

• DataGrid

• Data Visualization

• Theming

Features

Flex Platform

• Camera and Microphone

• Offline DRM support (Adobe AIR)

• Peer-assisted Networking – P2P (Flash Player 10+ and Stratus)

• Printing Support

• Right -to-leftText (Flash Player 10+Flex 4)

• HTML hosting (Adobe AIR)

Silverlight Platform

• Camera and Microphone (Silverlight 4)

• Offline DRM support (Silverlight 4)

• Multicast Streaming (Silverlight 4)

• Printing Support (Silverlight 4)

• Right-to-left Text (Silverlight 4)

• HTML Hosting (Silverlight 4)

Remote Access

Flex Platform

• HTTP

• Socket

• Web Services

• Remoting

Silverlight Platform

• HTTP

• Sockets

• Web Services

• WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)

Local Access

Flex Platform

• Read

• Upload

• Shared Object

• Read/Write (Adobe AIR)

• Sqlite (Adobe AIR)

Silverlight Platform

• Read

• Read/Write XML/Plain Text

• Read/Write local file system (Silverlight 4)

• Hardware device access (Silverlight 4)

THOUGHTS ON CLIENT-SIDE AND TOOLING

Flex/Silverlight

Flex Platform

• Great workflow (esp. with Catalyst)

• Easy to build UI

• Remoting config tricky

• Data services dance similar to SL side

Silverlight Platform

• Great workflow with great round tripping

• Confusing UI development

• Confusing development with code-behind

• Designer quirky

• Data services super easy

DEMONSTRATIONSDK/Features

BACKGROUNDVideo Delivery

Video Prep

Flex Platform

• File types (FLV, F4V)

• Encoder: Adobe Media Encoder, Rhozet Carbon Coder (FMES), Flash Media Live Encoder

• DRM Available? YES, Flash Access

Silverlight Platform

• File types (WMV, F4V)

• Encoding: Expression Media Encoder

• DRM Available? YES

Video Delivery

Flex Platform

• Adobe Flash Media Server

• Progressive download or streaming

• Smooth streaming: Multi-bitrate

• HD Video (1080p)

• Secure streaming

• Live streaming

• Bit rate throttling

• Edge servers

Silverlight Platform

• Microsoft IIS

• Microsoft IIS Media Services

• Progressive download or streaming

• Microsoft IIS Smooth Streaming Services: Multi-bitrate

• HD Video (720p+)

• Live Streaming

• Bit rate throttling

• Edge Servers

BACKGROUNDServer-side

Data Services

ColdFusion 9

• Flash Remoting!

• Binary and Soap services

.NET

• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services

• Binary and Soap services

Web Services

ColdFusion 9

1. Build your CFC

2. Import WSDL

3. Your SOAP web service is now fully proxied and ready to code

.NET

1. Code your Web Service

2. Test in browser!

3. Add Service Reference in SL project

4. Your service is proxied and ready to code

Data Access Layer

ColdFusion 9

1. CF 9 has ORM, it’s Hibernate!

2. Enable in Application.cfc

3. Map your DB via .cfc or manual .hbmxml

4. Get your query on!

.NET

1. .NET 3.5’s ORM is ADO.NET Entity Framework

2. Map your DB via wizard ( or by hand )

3. Your DB tables are now “Entities”

4. Get your LINQ to SQL on!

THOUGHTS ON SERVER-SIDEFlex/Silverlight

Thoughts

CF9

• CF9 is the best update since 4.5

• Love CF9, CFSCRIPT is getting better

.NET

• .NET is powerfully difficult, as always

• Love C#, don’t love ASP.NET

DEMONSTRATIONServer-side

Conclusion

•Flex and it’s platform FTW!

Resources

• Adobe Flex Platform:

• Main/Flex 3: http://www.adobe.com/products/flex

• Flex 4: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex4sdk

• Samples: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/tourdeflex

• ColdFusion 9: http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion

• FMS: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver

Resources

• Microsoft Silverlight Platform:

• Main: http://silverlight.net

• Silverlight 3: http://silverlight.net/getstarted

• Silverlight 4: http://silverlight.net/getstarted/silverlight-4-beta

• Toolkit and Samples: http://silverlight.codeplex.com

• WCF: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663324.aspx

• IIS Media: http://www.iis.net/media

Resources

•Misc:

•http://www.riastats.com

• Install the AIR app from the 360 Flex USB drive

•We have a bunch of links that we’ll be posting to delicious: http://delicious.com/compilersband/flexsilverlightpresentation

Thanks!Any more questions?