The Flex Application Frameworks SmackDown (sorta)
The Selecting the Right Flex Application Framework post provided a summary comparison of the Flex application frameworks out there, highlighting the ones I thought were the “heavyweights” a Flex developer should focus on. The purpose was primarily to help you make a quick, easy, but well-informed decision, without looking at the code.
But many of us wish to look under the covers and see a detailed comparison of the frameworks. So I took Adobe’s Flex Builder 3 Getting Started tutorial example of a simple Flickr photo search and re-implemented it in Cairngorm, PureMVC and Mate.
No Framework
But before we discuss each framework, let’s quickly go over the problems that the frameworks are trying to solve. All Flex application frameworks have been created, because there are problems with implementing a Flex application without one (or, of course, with another framework).
Selecting the Right Flex Application Framework
So you’ve decided to use Flex for your web application development. It’s easy to follow the online tutorials and prototype an application, but deciding on an application framework for your major production Flex application is more difficult. The Flex community is divided between Adobe’s Cairngorm and Cliff Hall’s PureMVC, with strong arguments from both sides. However, your answer may just lie in the “it depends” space.
This post aims to help you make that decision. It includes analysis of Cairngorm, PureMVC, and the new kid on the block, asfusion’s Mate.
Cairngorm
Cairngorm (pronounced \kern-gorm\) is a lightweight micro-architecture for Rich Internet Applications for Flex or AIR applications. It is not only a
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