Adobe Alchemy Creates Flash Applications with C and C++
Adobe Systems has issued a prerelease version of project Alchemy, a small tool that compiles C and C++ code for programs running on ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM2). The idea is to expand the capabilities of Web applications running on Adobe Flash Player 10 and Adobe AIR 1.5.
Adobe's plan with Alchemy is to encourage porting of existing platform-independent C and C++ libraries and their functions to Web applications. Targeted are computation-intensive and complex applications, such as audio and video transcoding, parsing of XML data and cryptographic functions. These use cases captured on the Flash platform can then benefit from ActionScript 3.0, thereby leading to complete Flash applications.
An Alchemy-ported program should run somewhat faster than an equivalent ActionScript one. However, it can run two to 10 times slower than a native C/C++ program due to the Flash functionality with its virtual machine. To make up for this, the translated libraries will benefit from Flash Player's security protection, such as in sandboxes.
To experiment with Alchemy, download a free 45.4 Mbyte package for Linux, but first agreeing to Adobe's licensing. The accompanying Wiki provides sample libraries and encourages participants to share their ported libraries with the community. The requirements include a minimum of Java 1.4, Perl and Flash Player 10.
Adobe sees Alchemy as a research project and waves any support for it. It's unclear whether the tool will ever go beyond beta status, but this hinges on the interest level of users and the feedback Adobe eagerly requests. Because of its early release, take some of the ported results with a grain of salt and hold off on using them in production systems and applications.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.