Professional haXe and Neko (Programmer to Programmer) [Paperback]

L. McColl-Sylvester (Author), F. Ponticelli (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470122137 | ISBN-13: 978-0470122136 | Publication Date: February 11, 2008 | Edition: 1

As the first title to focus on haXe and Neko, this book walks you through unleashing the potential of these two free tools in order to use them to develop desktop and web based applications, including server-side and client side logic, using a single language. Step-by-step instructions and helpful examples uncover adventurous ways to build dynamic, database-driven web sites with Ajax-powered pages and eye-catching Flash contentall with using only the solitary language of haXe.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Professional haXe and Neko

haXe is an exciting new programming language, as well as a compiler and a framework, that can be used to build web applications and write code aimed at multiple platforms on an array of operating systems. Neko is a fast, flexible, and reliable cross-platform virtual machine that allows for the execution of haXe applications on Windows®, Mac®, or Linux® desktops. As the first title to focus on haXe and Neko, this book walks you through unleashing the potential of these two free tools in order to use them to develop desktop and web based applications, including server-side and client side logic, using a single language. Step-by-step instructions and helpful examples uncover adventurous ways to build dynamic, database-driven web sites with Ajax-powered pages and eye-catching Flash content—all with using only the solitary language of haXe.

What you will learn from this book

• How to install and use haXe

• Tips for understanding functions and variables in haXe

• How to build desktop applications using Flash, native GUI frameworks and SDL

• How to communicate effectively between Flash®, JavaScript® and the Server

• Tips for understanding functions, variables and Object Oriented Programming in haXe

• Techniques for building reusable code

• The benefits of haXe advanced features such as templates, reflection,XML and cross-complication

Who this book is for
This book is for web developers who are looking to reduce the number of languages that are required to produce a single software solution. Experience with ActionScript, Java, or another ECMA language is helpful but not required.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

About the Author

Franco Ponticelli is an experienced developer and solution architect. An Architecture Graduate with specialization in Industrial Design, he performed many different activities in the Information Technology area from 3D Computer Graphics to hard - core software development. In his continual research for the perfect development environment, he found haXe and fell in love.
Franco is currently a self - employed developer and you can reach him on his personal website www.weblob.net.

Lee McColl-Sylvester is an expert ActionScript developer as well as a seasoned master in systems integrations. A student in Visual Communications, he evolved his career specializing in advanced graphical interface development, as well as information management systems, database architecture, and hardware communications implementation. An inventor at heart, Lee discovered haXe while tinkering in the Open Source Flash arena.
Lee is self - employed and can be reached through the haXe mailing list, or his website www.designrealm.co.uk.

Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: Wrox; 1 edition (February 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470122137
• ISBN-13: 978-0470122136
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,472,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars haXe: Bringing order back to the Web, November 11, 2008

By 

J. Donaldson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Professional haXe and Neko (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

The "Web based language" haXe focuses on targeting a variety of web platforms directly with a single syntax. However, haXe is not just a framework like Ruby on Rails. Instead, it targets virtual machines at the bytecode level where possible. With a single class file, it is possible to produce javascript, php, SWF objects, etc.

What is even more impressive is that haXe is able to provide these targets with expressive type checking capabilities, enabling better debugging facilities, while also improving execution efficiency in many cases.

The authors do a great job of introducing the specifics of the language, and help the reader wrap their head around the kind of inter-platform functionality that haXe makes possible.

The only negative for this book is the fact that it is slightly outdated, given that it was written for haXe 1.15, while haXe itself has recently hit version 2.0. However, if you're looking for a comprehensive introduction to what haXe is all about, I would still recommend buying this book, and also subscribing to the haXe mailing list to stay on top of all the new features the language is offering.