O’Reilly: Inside RIA

You've been looking into the world of Rich Internet Applications for a while now but how do you make the jump? Whether you're a developer working in Java or C++ looking to get on the web or a designer working in an art department wanting to do more interactive, the RIA world is a fast-growing and exciting field many people are looking to transition to. Unless you're lucky enough to have some personal connections into an RIA firm, the decision to move requires hitting the pavement and convincing an RIA company that you're worth hiring. This article comes from my experiences as both a former interviewee and current interviewer at a mid-sized RIA company.

Papervision3D opens a whole new dimension to World Wide Web. The third dimension! Thanks to a core group of ActionScript geniuses who understand mathematical representations of 3D space way better than you or me, we can now easily add a new perspective to our Flash applications. This article will cover what’s necessary to set up your first Papervision3D application as well as introduce you to adding 3D objects. Put on your 3-dimensional hat and let’s get started!

In parts of the Flash community, ActionScript 3.0 seems to have gained a reputation for being “hard” —- particularly among those who have not yet tried the new language. Colin Moock, author of Essential ActionScript 3.0, explores this issue and offers code examples comparing earlier versions of ActionScript to version 3.0.

In this series, we’ll look at a small application that integrates the technologies of LCDS and EJB 3.0, and we’ll cover some timesaving tools as well as discuss how to use them to achieve a lightweight development environment for integrating an RIA with an enterprise environment. Ready to get started? First, a look at the tools a developer needs to follow along at home…