It occurred to me that while we tend to hype the show, there’s always an understood sentiment: Flex is the way to go. However, it dawned on me that some companies and/or developers are just now jumping on the Rich Internet Application bandwagon. They may think that Flex is an option, but they’re not going to commit to 360|Flex until they know for sure. Therefore, I’d like to point out a few reasons why we chose to do 360|Flex vs 360|AJAX or something like that.

1) Flex is fun: First and foremost, Flex is fun. If you ever tried to build a RIA in the Flash Authoring IDE, you know it was an exercise in futility. Sure, sure, it could be done, much like surgery can be done with a machete, but it was far too painful for the masses. Flex, especially with Flex/Flash Builder, makes the experience so much better.

2) Flex saves time: The framework does so much for you, right out of the proverbial box. One of my favorite things when teaching Flex to new people is to start a new project and add this single line of code:

<mx:Button label=”Main Button”/>

Then I run the application and show them how it’s a fully functional program.  I show them how there is already built in a hover state, down state and normal state.  All of this built-in to Flex, with no extra effort on your part.

3) Flex is easy: By this, I don’t mean you’ll be a Flex Superstar within a week.  Instead, what I mean is that Flex is a language that’s easy to come to from other scripting or programming languages.  For instance, that line above looks like HTML, because MXML is a markup language too.  ActionScript, the scripting language of Flex, is based on ECMAScript, which makes it instantly familiar to JavaScripters.  Flex is also Object-Oriented base, lending to itself design patterns that are familiar to others from the Java and other programming languages.

4) Flex doesn’t limit you: Most programming languages don’t limit you per se, but some make it tough to go beyond what the language and/or framework was meant to do. This is not the case with Flex.  I’ve seen some pretty amazing edge cases that push the envelope of what the Flex framework was meant to do.    That’s the great thing about Flex.  It was made to be used right out of the box, which is good for some apps.  However, the framework is also one big lesson on how to do anything your heart (or realistically, your Product Manager’s heart) can desire.

These are just a few reasons we became Flex developers back in the day.  It was also one of the reasons we created this conference.  We realized the potential that Flex had, and imagined the great things that would come of bringing everyone in the Flex community together.  The outcome of the shows have been greater than anything we could’ve imagined.  Frameworks, books, companies, businesses, friendships, etc. have all been born at 360|Flex. It’s a testament to the power of a unique community around an amazing product.

While 360|Flex does have some of the most advanced sessions on Flex, we haven’t forgotten about the newcomers. We always have a (free to paid attendees) Flex 101 session on Sunday before the show.  This is a full day of beginning training for those new to Flex or those needing a refresher before the conference.  You bring your own laptop and we have amazing instructors like Garth Braithwaite that teach you the basics of Flex.

If this all sounds great, then definitely come out and join us.  Register here for what’s sure to be a great time in San Jose.  Because if the framework is fun, you can imagine how much more fun the community is!