Flash Does Not Grok XML

Jumping in on Jesse’s Flash based RIA thread, my personal take on the Flash RIA issue boils down to one thing, Flash does not grok XML and paradigm change that XML brings once you do grok it.  Don’t get me wrong, Flash is a very good tool for what it does, static (not data driven) vector graphics.  Used in its traditional niche, it is a great tool, but to try to expand its role to building full fledged UIs, will only tarnish its reputation.  I have the same problem with people that try to build SVG only web sites (and I love SVG).

Macromedia is correct in its judgment that the future desktop UI will be a vector graphics based one, but what they are missing is that it will a declarative vector graphics based UI, in combination with a couple non-graphics based declarative languages, all based on XML.  The multi-namespace document is the future of the web, with true XML “browsers”. 

Don Box and the other developers at MS get it, but the folks at Macromedia (specifically Sean and John Dowell)   haven’t shown that they get it, Declarative Languages Rock.  This is where the .Net framework excels.  It was built from the ground up to make use of XML, not to just interpret it.  XML is at the very heart of the .Net framework, not just an add-on library.  That was the way the old VS 6 was, and COM was, and Flash and Java still are.  In order to truly take advantage of the XML paradigm you have to start over from scratch, and build it back up, starting with XML.  Once you have that, then you can start to take advantage of things like creating and using declarative languages to communicate across machine and platform boundaries.

There’s a great quote from Robert Heinlein that goes:

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human.  At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house.  ~Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

and I think that it could be morphed it something similar regarding programming platforms and XML, but I can’t seem to get the words just so.  Maybe someone out there can.

Don XML

4 Comments

  • Oh I grok XML and declarative languages alright! Back in the early 80's I was working with Prolog and doing research into "next generation" languages. I'd be more than happy to see a declarative programming environment for Flash. Not being part of the product development group however, I can't comment on possible product directions - I just use the products!

  • Sean,


    Your comment is exactly why I was very careful in the words that I chose to describe "Macromedia not getting it". I am not an insider, and even the folks that are can't offically say much. I just haven't seen the light bulb go on (regarding XML) at Macromedia yet. But that may be due to reading too many John Dowell comments on svg-developers.





    Don XML

  • My experience w/ Macromedia is that they are not a developer oriented company, they just don't get developers. This is one of the major reasons their OpenSource push with SWF fell flat on its face.





    They want to move into the developer marketplace, but they need a paradigm shift in order to do so. Currently, Flash and Dreamweaver are nothing more than PhotoShop and FrontPage on shrooms. Whether they will be able to make this shift and really start thinking like developers is definately a debatable issue...

  • <i>"Flash does not grok XML and paradigm change that XML brings once you do grok it."</i>





    Macromedia Flash is a piece of software. I'm sure Bob Heinlein would have agreed that it would have difficulty grokking anything.... ;-)





    (Or, rephrased, precisely what do you need to accomplish with XML in Flash? There might be a way to accomplish it today, or it might be a great change-request for future versions, but the high-level "grok" abstraction makes a meaningful reply difficult.)





    If this is "I'd like to describe interface appearance and functionality thorugh XML", then that's a reasonable request, even though it leaves unstated the basis for the desire. Is that what you're seeking, hwoever...?





    (btw, what's up with the page layout here? Is it IE/Win-specific markup in use, or is it intentionally designed this way...?)

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