Six Best IDEs for Flex / Flash Application Development, Top Five alternates for Adobe Flash Builder

Flash Builder 4 Branding (Photo credit: Adam Tuttle)

Below is the list of IDEs for Flex with debugging support

1. Powerflasher FDT 

Homepage Link: http://fdt.powerflasher.com/
Check my blog PowerFlasher FDT 5 - Yet Another IDE for Flash/Flex/Air (practicalflex.blogspot.com) for further details.

2. Amethyst 

Homepage Link: http://www.sapphiresteel.com/Adobe-Flex-IDE-Amethyst-Beta-2

3. Adobe Flash Builder 

Homepage Link: http://www.adobe.com/in/products/flash-builder.html

Port of Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 to Linux - http://code.google.com/p/fb4linux/ - 

4. IntelliJ IDEA - Ultimate Edition 

Homepage URL: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/features/flex_ide.html)

5. Flash Develop

Homepage URL: http://www.flashdevelop.org/

Overview - FD is free and open source. It is also being developed actively, it has got lots of good features comparable to that of FDT like the debugger and profiler. For mobile development there are lot of resources from the community, like sample project files for e.g. (How to build an app for iphone or ipad with flashdevelop - http://www.lorenzonuvoletta.com/build-an-app-for-iphone-or-ipad-with-flashdevelop/)

6. Realaxy ActionScript Editor 

Website: http://realaxy.com/

Related articles

• Adobe Flex Builder 4.6 Extras(practicalflex.blogspot.com)

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• Flash Builder 4.7 and Adobe Scout 1.0 Released(inflagrantedelicto.memoryspiral.com)

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• PowerFlasher FDT 5 - Yet Another IDE for Flash/Flex/Air(practicalflex.blogspot.com)
• Amethyst 2 - Visual Studio based Flash and Flex IDE(overdigital.com)

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• FDT4 is fully supported on Ubuntu(mrbinitie.blogspot.com)

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• Develop for Adobe Flash/Flex in Amethyst for Visual Studio(itwriting.com)

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• Importing Flash Builder projects into FDT(stackoverflow.com)

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• Setting up FDT to look and behave like FlashDevelop(stevensacks.net)

• Apache Flex and Adobe AIR with IntelliJ IDEA (inflagrantedelicto.memoryspiral.com)

Introduction to Adobe Flash Player and take a Flex Test Drive, updated

The following are three main Rich Internet Applications technologies from Adobe:

1. Adobe Flex, 
2. Flash Player and 
3. Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)

To begin learning about Flash Player start reading with What is micromedia flash player (wiki.answers.com)

Flash Platform is used to build

• Enterprise applicaitons
• SasS (Software as a Service)
• Consumer applications, 
• Rich media applications, 
• Video applications (e.g. YouTube), 
• Social applications
• Games

Note: Adobe has abandoned developing Flash for mobile device. 

To know about the current version of Flash Player visit the URL: https://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

Flex Test Drive: Build an application in an hour

Remark: You should be able to upgrade the Flex SDK without having to get your clients upgrade their Flash Player unless during major releases, to bring some predictability and allows developers to plan their upgrade cycles.

Related articles

Adobe Advances Graphic Tech with CrossBridge(gautiertalksopentech.wordpress.com) - Flash C++ compiler (FlasCC), previously known as project Alchemy.

Flex Development Without IDE(radhedubey.wordpress.com) - Getting to know the basics with Flex Development without an IDE 

Introducing the Flash Platform Evangelist Kit (blogs.adobe.com) - Find answers to key points raised by executives, technology decision makers, and customers. 

Important BlackBerry Tablet OS Update: Includes Fix for Adobe Flash Player (blogs.blackberry.com) - Does anybody now care about BlacBerry Tablet OS and its Flash Player ? If yes then read this blog. 

 
Photon - A Flash Player and Browser for Android - viewing Flash enabled web sites (those not yet migrated to HTML5) in Android.

Adobe Flash Player for Android is not available anymore at the Play Store.

• Adobe Releases Android Flash Player 10.3 Security Fix (pocketnow.com)
• Adobe Updates Flash and Air For Android (pocketnow.com)

Flash Player on Linux

• Adobe Release x64 Flash Player 11 Public Beta (edugeek.net)