Question

I am completely new to Flex.

Can I realistically develop, say, a medium complex application with the Flex SDK alone, or do I need Flex Builder?

Also, apart from the SDK, what will I need to get started?

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

I was there a year or two ago, so here’s my experience. In order by subquestion:

I am completely new to Flex.

I was new to Flex too – and Actionscript (although it’s a superset of javascript, which I know pretty well; although it sure doesn’t feel like javascript to me).

Can I realistically develop, say a medium complex application with the Flex SDK alone, or do I need Flex Builder?

Maybe, if you already know Flash and Actionscript pretty well. I didn’t, so I found it sure helped. But it isn’t any different from any other IDE-or-not decision.

Also, apart from the SDK, what will I need to get started?

Nothing, unless you want to use AIR, which is only a simple download. Everything else is in there. I was completely happy with my experience; no unpleasant surprises, and you’re asking the same questions I did. YMMV.