Beginning Adobe® AIR™: Building Applications for the Adobe Integrated Runtime

Chapter 1. Introducing AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime)

AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), which was originally code-named Apollo, is a cross-operating system runtime that allows developers to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop using their existing skill sets. AIR applications can be built using HTML, AJAX, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Flex. The version 1.0 release supports both Mac OSX and WindowsXP and Vista. Adobe has also confirmed that a Linux version of the runtime is on its radar.

So, what exactly does this mean to developers? First and foremost, it means that if your current skill set includes HTML/JavaScript (AJAX), Flex, or Flash, you already have everything you need to create a desktop application that will install on a Windows or Mac computer. Therefore, you don't need to know Java, C++, C, or any of the other traditional desktop languages to create and distribute full-fledged desktop applications.

It also means that since Adobe has created these runtimes, Adobe is the one responsible for ensuring that your application performs the same on any of the operating systems that AIR supports. If you are coming from a Flash or Flex background, you already know how nice it is to write an application that performs the same within the Flash player in a traditional web browser. If you are coming from an HTML/JavaScript background, you have undoubtedly suffered through countless frustrations and hacks to get your web page to show up the same in many different browsers. ...