Flex,Flash和AIR的关系？

一开始我也被这几个概念给搞糊涂了，特别是在前面写了两篇文章《Silverlight与Flash的一点不同》之后，收到了一些人的疑问。其中就有一条，Silverlight应该跟Flex比较，而不是Flash。

直到我看了Adobe的官方介绍之后，这才明白过来。 原来Flex只是一个开源的类库，简单的可以认为是通用组件库。Flex编译出来的结果即SWF文件（类似二进制可执行文件），可以运行在Flash Player或者AIR运行环境里（类似OS）。再进一步，Flash Player是运行在浏览器里，AIR则是运行在桌面环境下的（类似硬件）。  Flash和Flex Builder则只是创作工具，用于生成SWF文件的。Flash直接就生成了swf文件，而Flex Builder是借助Flex类库的--谁都知道有类库才够方便。

其实，这许多的概念，统称起来应该叫做Flash Platform。 同样的，Silverlight也是一个统称。其中当然会包括CLR和.NET Framework运行环境，对应的是Flash Player和AIR。Silverlight的Control Toolkit则对应的是Flex，都属于类库。Flash和Flex Builder则分别对应Microsoft Expression Blend和Visual Studio了，属于开发工具。

很多时候，当我们说到Flash的时候，其实说的并不是创作工具Flash，而是指SWF文件或者Flash Platform。

Flex的介绍，原文摘录如下：

Flex overview

Flex is a free, open source framework for building highly interactive, 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. Flex also includes a rich component library with more than 100 proven, extensible UI components for creating rich Internet applications (RIAs), as well as an interactive Flex application debugger.

RIAs created with Flex can run in the browser using Adobe Flash® Player software or on the desktop on Adobe AIR™, the cross-operating system runtime. This enables Flex applications to run consistently across all major browsers and on the desktop. And using AIR, Flex applications can now access local data and system resources on the desktop. Both Flash Player and Adobe AIR are available as a free download on Adobe.com.

You can accelerate application development with Adobe Flex® Builder™ 3 software, a highly productive, Eclipse™ based development environment, and AdobeLive Cycle® Data Services software, a set of advanced data services that can be used in Flex development. Both of these products are available for purchase.

http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/overview/