RIA - Rich Internet Applications

• Introduced in a white paper of March 2002 by Macromedia but, existed for a number of years earlier under names such as:

  * Remote Scripting, by Microsoft, circa 1998
  * X Internet, by Forrester Research in October 2000
  * Rich (web) clients
  * Rich web application
  

Traditional web applications centered all activity around a client-server architecture with a thin client. With RIA we have some of the activity done on the client itself:

• client engine intermediate layer of code between the user and the server.
  • usually downloaded as part of the instantiation of the application,
  • may be supplemented by further code downloads as use of the application progresses.
  • acts as an extension of the browser, and usually takes over responsibility for rendering the application's user interface and for server communication.

   

Adobe Flex is an example of this.

• Flex SDK, - free simple interface
• Adobe® Flex® Builder™ 3 - graphical development tool.
• see development center