With Professional Adobe Flex 3, put your prior experience with Flash, Actionscript and XML-based language to good use and learn how to use the Flex 3 platform to create rich Internet and Apollo applications. Understand the potential of the Flex 3 platform through practical examples and hands-on advice on topics like developing applications in MXML, creating custom flex components, charting, targeting Apollo runtime, and data interconnectivity. In addition, this book addresses the ways that you can contribute to the development of Flex 3, which is open source.

Joseph Balderson has been fascinated by computers and programming since picking up LEGOs and disassembling nearly every appliance he could find as a child, progressing on to electronics, microcontrollers, and robotics as a teen. This interest took a detour in his college years, when he attended art school and studied poetry, philosophy, and graphic design. When he discovered Flash 4 in 1999, Joseph found his true vocation, one that would allow him to combine his passions for art and science, design, and programming under one roof.

Peter Ent is a Computer Scientist at Adobe, working with the LiveCycle team. Prior to this, Peter worked for Adobe Customer Care as a Flex support engineer and then as a technical account manager. Before joining Adobe, Peter worked in the financial services industry at State Street and Fidelity Investments. He also has experience at two startups, building software applications doing imaging and molecular modeling. Peter holds a BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University.

Jun Heider is a senior developer and technical trainer with RealEyes Media, an Adobe partner company based in Denver, Colorado, with a focus in rich Internet applications. Jun graduated from Regis University with a BS in Computer Networking and has a number of technical certifications.

Todd Prekaski has been building software since 1993 (not including his youthful days programming an Apple IIc and TRS-80). He’s been leading application development and strategy for Web-based startups and Fortune 100/500 enterprises ever since, using a panoply of technologies and platform, including Java, .NET, and LAMP. Todd is currently the chief technical architect at Beacon Street Software, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Occasionally, his thoughts show up in his blog at www.simplifiedchaos.com.

Tom Sugden is a technical architect for Adobe Professional Services. His interest in computers began in the 1980s, programming sport simulators and beep-music on the ZX Spectrum 48k. When the keyboard broke from too much Dailey Thompson, Tom upgraded to the Commodore Amiga and continued to create amateur games (but with multi-channel sound) in AMOS, before dabbling in the black art of Assembly language.

Andrew Trice is the principal architect for Flex and AIR for Cynergy Systems, based in Washington, DC. He specializes in data visualization, client/server architectures, object-oriented principles, and rich application development. He has been developing for the Web for more than a decade, with more than eight years in development for the Flash platform. Andrew has developed with Flex since version 1.5, and thrives off the creativity and rich experience that the Flex/Flash platform enables. Andrew is also a regular author for Adobe Devnet and other industry weblogs. He is known not only for Flex expertise but is also a Microsoft Certified Application Developer and possesses a wide range of knowledge regarding relational databases, AJAX/JavaScript, ColdFusion, .NET, and Java-based Web applications.

David Hassoun is the founder of RealEyes Media, LLC, a digital media firm based in Colorado that focuses on interactive motion media and advanced Flash and Flex platform applications. David has always had a passion for motion media, the power of video, and the challenges of usability and interactivity. David is an Adobe Certified Master Instructor, teaches advanced RIA classes at the University of Denver, serves as the Rocky Mountain Adobe user group manager, and has taught and developed advanced Flash and Flex application courses. As a consultant or while employed with other firms, he has worked for a wide range of companies such as American Express, Chase Manhattan, Qwest, Boeing, Macromedia, Adobe, the U.S. Air Force, Bechtel/Bettis, and many more. David regularly performs advanced code and technical best practices reviews, and has provided directional advice for international industry leaders over the past years — including many technical, courseware, and application reviews as an industry expert.

Joe Berkovitz is president of Noteflight LLC, maker of the world’s first online music notation editor, and is a senior software architect with consulting shop Infrared5. With almost three decades of designing and building world-class software, Joe brings creativity and discipline to his work in Flash and Flex. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and is the originator of the popular MVCS architecture for complex Flex applications. Joe has published several ambitious open-source projects, most recently the Moccasin graphical editing framework and Flexcover, a code coverage tool for AS3. Joe is an active pianist and composer, and performs frequently in the Boston area.