Basics

I'm one of those Flash programmers. I came into it from the outside; from design. I learned to program using Flash. OOP in Flash is more fun!

Anyway, I look at Flex and most Adobe components and think, "Wow, if I had had this, I wouldn't have had to learn to make everything by myself".

I also think that there's no such thing as a generic solution to a problem, which is what Flex sells.

I thank my lucky stars that I know how to "make everything". By that, I mean interface objects.

I feel that you need to know (like the back of your hand) how to make a scroll pane, or a drop menu, or a heir menu. You should know how to do layout and event management. Understanding how to actually make the interface should be, I believe, a requirement for a Flash programmer. I think Flex offers a nice sandbox for some to play in, but I also believe that only custom interfaces can be the best solution for a project.

What is your take on this?

True, there is benefit to knowing these things, but one of the principles of OOP is reuse what you have. Why should I recreate something that already exists if I can just extend it?

A builder than knows how to chop down his own trees and make his own boards definitely has some skills, but is that necessary every time you build a house, or do you just head off to the lumber yard?

If you're working for a company, go ahead learn to do as much as you can, but if you're working for yourself time is money, more accurately your money.