A new Adobe tool in Adobe Air could revolutionize the way developers produce applications.
Developers are able to build a single code-base for a single application, and utilize the tool to essentially convert the application to run on multiple operating systems (including mobile operating systems) that support Adobe Flash. No additional code needs to be changed to support the different platforms.
Adobe says the tool is the first of its kind, and no other technology currently allows developers to maintain the same code-base without any modifications to the initial code to run on a variety of platforms.
The core app code is contained within the action script, the tool then instantiates a new app and adds it to the display list to have a platform specific configuration, according to the Adobe programmer, Christian Cantrell, in the embedded video.
Despite no changes to the code-base, the outputted application is not the same that runs across the different platforms.
The tool is currently able to seamlessly output applications to run on Windows, Mac, Linux, Apple iOS powered devices, including the iPad, and even within an Internet browser.
The single code-base apps were also showcased on a Google Android powered Motorola Droid smartphone.
The tool automatically scales applications to work optimally with different aspect ratios and pixel densities with different device screen sizes.
Adobe says it will soon provide specific documentation so that developers could begin to write their own cross-platform multi-screen applications, in what appears to be a very time saving and seamless experience.
The implications of this technology could have a significant impact, especially in the mobile space.
For example, the BlackBerry platform has recently lagged behind other operating systems, like Apple’s iOS, when it comes to the quality and variety of applications available.
Arguably, the strong demand for Apple’s iPhone 4 is propelled by a strong consumer demand for the availability of many quality applications that add to the overall user experience.
The latest technology by Adobe could see many quality applications developed for one platform, say an iOS device, to be ported to the BlackBerry platform, bringing additional quality applications to the BlackBerry, among additional other platforms.
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