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With AJAX/RIA moving beyond the browser with things like AIR and lower level capabilities expanding with JSON, SQLite, XMPP et al, all we need now is real 3D! Well, as Russell Beattie notes
I think we’re moving in that direction, already, no? I just want it to move faster!
Binary Sockets are so cool, you can connect to any type of TCP/IP server, yes any even FTP! I could not find the developers name (got it! Mali!!!) but Maliboo.pl has posted source for an FTP client in Apollo and client classes in AS3.
Ted on Flex
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For AIR development without an IDE you need to have tools for launching and packaging applications. In order to use these tools - the AIR Debu Launcher(ADL) and the AIR Development Tool(ADT) without typing the full path to where you installed the SDK your PATH environment variable needs to include that path. After setting it from Terminal several times I looked around and found that you can make it part of your profile by typing:
echo 'export PATH=/Users/yourname/pathToAIR_SDK/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile
After taking it for a spin, I’ve decided to set Aptana aside for the moment. It’s too big to fit comfortably into my current environment. With Aptana running, having lots of browser tabs open, along with Second Life isn’t feasable without a hw upgrade. I’ll do it, but for now I want to learn AIR deeply and dealing with Aptana/ExtJS/AIR integration/configuration is scattering my efforts/attention. It was cool to quickly create desktop apps with Aptana so I’m happy I started there but doing things from scratch is a good way to get understanding. I can’t remember the last time I set a PATH environmental variable! Yeah, I’ll be glad to get back to Aptana 
The Language of the Web has a new home. I haven’t been enthusiastic about many of the changes people have been clamoring for, but the world has evolved and the language needs to evolve as well. Javascript creator Brendan Eich makes a good case for what’s needed, though I suppose nobody will be completely satisfied. I am not a big fan of ActionScript but having it co-exist with Javascript is fine by me. Right now Adobe AIR supports that and so Sockets and other system level stuff can be done from Javascript - cool! Both ActionScript 3 and and Mozilla’s upcoming Javascript 2 are ECMAScript Edition 4 based and will run under the same Tamarin VM.
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While evaluating Adobe’s Integrated Runtime(AIR - formerly code-named Apollo), I was led to Aptana the self-proclaimed “Web IDE” that supports AIR via plugin. As a long-time Smalltalker, I started out with very mixed feelings about living inside a static box within another static box but after some simple coding and looking at screencasts I have to say that the integration of JavaScript, HTML, CSS and Ruby is compelling. The unified debugger makes it easy to be tolerant of the lurking, clunky Javaness. I’m close to convincing myself that if I close my eyes for a moment and imagine that the OS has disappeared and Java has taken it’s place, everything will work out just fine. AIR enables me to create web-aware, cross-platform, AJAXed, SQLite-aware, double-clickable applications and since Aptana is Eclipse-based, I can rhythmeer with IBM Jazz! Although it’s taken a long road with many unexpected turns, perhaps Java is going to become a ubiquitous platform - at least for development.
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