Adobe AIR Programming Unleashed teaches readers how to create applications using the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR). Readers will learn three things: what AIR is and what it offers to developers, the process of creating an application and some good practises for developing your applications.

In a nutshell AIR lets developers write cross-platform applications in ActionScript or JavaScript- though ActionScript is given most of the coverage in the book. If this sounds a bit like Java’s “write once, run (or test) anywhere,” the comparison is a valid one– in fact, with the new 3D animation support and UI toolkit, AIR could be used places Visual Basic or DarkBasic are currently used. On the other hand, unlike Java, AIR includes a lot of help for developers ranging from a built-in database (SQLite), secure local storage, and a packaging system that makes updating your application much less work. However many of the applications available today, like Twhirl, MyStylez or the late Pownce, simply enhance existing websites.

Each chapter covers one feature of AIR explaining a feature usually with a fair amount of sample code. Code in the book is mostly written in ActionScript, though JavaScript fans should check out Adobe’s online documentation for how to use the AIR APIs in JavaScript. The first section is on setting up the Flex BuilderIDE and debugging applications. Unit testing is covered later in the book (ch. 23, Continuous Integration). I was glad to see more attention paid to writing solid applications and using developer tools. A lot of books of this kind don’t cover simple things like using an IDE’s debugger- maybe that’s another bonus of Adobe including an IDE with AIR- writers know this is what most users are going to be using to write apps, unlike say, Java where there might be about at least 5 IDEs in use.

Afterwards the book takes the reader though the various APIs AIR offers developers including opening native windows (AIR runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux), working with local files, databases and networks. Each chapter starts with a set of feature high-lights before delving into the API; for instance, chapter 16 on the encrypted local store points out right away some useful information like kind of encryption used and the fact that un-installing a AIR application does not automatically remove data stored in the local store – something security-conscious programmers would certainly want to know.

Unlike a few books of this type, AIR Programming also spends a fair amount of time on good practises for developing non-trivial applications. Besides the chapter on using the debugger, design patterns and using Cairngorm, a MVC-based framework, that’s given two chapters coverage. Agile programming is covered in section six which includes creating a build process using Ant, unit testing with FlexUnit and automated builds using CruiseControl. In short the book covers a lot of the practical advice for setting up a proper development environment besides finding your way around an IDE.

In conclusion, the book does a good job of showing readers how to develop AIR applications, what features are available and demonstrates some good practices to follow. I would like to have seen more information for web developers looking to port their applications over, but from the looks of the JavaScript documentation on Adobe’s site, it’s not that much more complicated. The layout of the book is pretty plain but makes for easy reading and there are numerous screen-shots and some diagrams. There’s a lot of source code printed in the book — which you can download from the book’s website, or from a Subversion repository. Also, the book’s appendixes have a fair number of resources listed in them for developers looking for online resources. Essentially, if you know ActionScript already, this book would probably have you writing basic applications in a short time.