Flint Particles in Flex

I released version 2.1 of Flint yesterday. This version features a number of small changes and a couple of major ones. You can read about all the changes on the Flint website, but I want to talk about the biggest change here. Flint now has full support and integration with the Flex Framework...

Posted on 26 June 2009 | 1 comment | continue reading

Flash on the Beach 2009

I am pleased and honoured to be invited back to speak at Flash on the Beach this year. FOTB is my favourite conference – ambitious, well organised, and enjoyable. John and his team do a great job of making each year even better than the last, so I expect an amazing conference in September...

Posted on 18 June 2009 | no comments | continue reading

Google Wave of Inspiration

Last week, Google gave a sneak preview of the Google Wave project. What strikes me about the presentation is how inspiring it is...

Posted on 4 June 2009 | no comments | continue reading

Continuous learning

I'm often asked what is the secret to being a good programmer, and the simple answer is to keep studying and learning throughout your career. If you're not currently learning something, then you're holding up your development. This morning, Bruce Eckel wrote a lot more about this. Read it at his blog.

Posted on 2 June 2009 | no comments | continue reading

ModuleLoader ApplicationDomain

By default, the module loader loads modules in a new application domain. This means the classes in the module are not accessible to the main application, which can cause problems particularly when using reflection...

Posted on 27 May 2009 | no comments | continue reading

A new job

Today a start a new job. After many years as a consultant I've taken a full-time job with BrightTALK. Why? Because they're a fantastic company, with a great team, a good attitude, a number of interesting projects, and an open mind. I like them. And they needed a lead Flex developer and architect.

I'll continue to blog here, to maintain and develop Flint, and to speak at conferences. But I won't be doing consultancy work any more. Best wishes to all my past clients.

Posted on 11 May 2009 | 3 comments | continue reading

Writing Software is Like … Writing

I was going to comment on this post by Bruce Eckel, but find I have nothing to add. Go read it.

Posted on 22 April 2009 | no comments | continue reading

Technical Debt

It seems particularly relevant during this credit crunch to be talking about Technical Debt - the debt you owe when implementing a solution in a quick and dirty way, which accrues interest every time you need to alter or add to the code, and can be paid off by taking tome to refactor the code...

Posted on 2 March 2009 | 1 comment | continue reading