Adobe Flex

Flex is a highly productive, free open source framework for building and maintaining expressive web applications that deploy consistently on all major browsers, desktops, and operating systems. It provides a modern, standards-based language and programming model that supports common design patterns. MXML, a declarative XML-based language, is used to describe UI layout and behaviors, and ActionScript™ 3, a powerful object-oriented programming language, is used to create client logic. In a multi-tiered model, Flex applications serve as the presentation tier. Unlike page-based HTML applications, Flex applications provide a stateful client where significant changes to the view don’t require loading a new page. Similarly, Flex and Flash Player provide many useful ways to send and load data to and from server-side components without requiring the client to reload the view.

Flex have been released since March 2004 and continuously developed many versions until now. The lasted version is Flex 3.0 and plan to release Flex 4.0 in 2009.
Adobe LiveCycle Data Services ES provides a comprehensive set of data-enabling features for using data in RIAs. It enables RIAs to talk to back-end data and business logic in a faster, more efficient operating model. LiveCycle Data Services ES also enables seamless integration with LiveCycle ES business processes and document services.

BlazeDS is a free, open source project providing Flex Remoting and Messaging to all developers. Flex Remoting provides a binary, serialized data transport format called Action Message Format (AMF) to provide a fast, efficient means of transporting data to your RIA, which accelerates application performance. Flex Remoting also makes it fast and easy for developers to connect to back-end business logic and data. Flex Messaging adds real-time data push and publish/subscribe, both powerful capabilities now made easy. Using BlazeDS, you can start using these powerful Java™ server integration features for free, and then subscribe to LiveCycle Data Services, Community Edition for certified builds and support, or upgrade to the full LiveCycle Data Services ES edition for a complete server solution.

By using Adobe Flex, you can enjoy many benefits such as cross-platform, accessible applications, developer productivity, ease of use, open source, standards-based framework, advanced data services, enhancements to existing projects and scalability.

Resource : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flex#Overview

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