Richard Lord
Bio
Richard is an independent Actionscript developer and consultant. He works for a diverse range of clients, either leading the client's development team through a project or working as a sole developer.
He spreads the word on the joys of Actionscript by training and mentoring developers in programming and speaking at user groups and conferences about various Actionscript related topics. His most requested talks are on the use of Actionscript in game development, particularly in relation to physics and AI.
While most of his current time is spent programming Actionscript, over the last 16 years Richard has used a mulitude of different programming languages (12 at the last count). His work includes games for PCs, Playstation2, XBox and the web and installations at various museums and galleries.
Richard is the developer of Flint - the open source Actionscript 3 particle system (flintparticles.org)
He is not as geeky as this bio makes him sound - Richard has been described as a ""renaissance man"" because of his work with mathematics and contemporary dance. He is taking this as a compliment.
Session
Application Frameworks: The good, the bad, and the ugly
With so many application frameworks available which should you choose? Cairngorm? PureMVC? Mate? Swiz? Or should you roll your own?
In the past 18 months I've advised a number of clients on which framework to use. In doing so I've created projects using each framework, I've examined their code and architecture, I've created statistics and I've formed opinions. In this presentation I'll share those opinions with you.
Which frameworks require you to write the most code? Which provide the easiest refactoring? Which features make frameworks flexible and which make them brittle? Which make them easy to use and which make them hard?
I'll tell you what I like and dislike about each framework. What they have in common and where they differ. And I'll tell you why I think they (nearly) all are fundamentally flawed.
If you're interested in architecture, frameworks, or design patterns, this session will be of interest to you. If you need to choose a framework for a project, or you want to know more about the framework you are using, this session will be essential viewing.