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Definition of: Flash
(1) See also flash memory and flash button.
(2) A multimedia authoring and playback system from Adobe. Launched in 1996 by Macromedia, which was acquired by Adobe in 2005, Flash became popular for its animated graphics. Responsible for much of the animations, advertisements and video components found on today's Web sites, the Flash Player is a free client application that works with popular Web browsers. Generated in Macromedia authoring applications, such as Flash MX, Flash Basic and Flash Professional, Flash "movies" are played by the Flash Player within the browser or from within an application that accesses the Player.
Animation is choreographed using one or more sequential timelines in which actions and interactions are defined. Multimedia elements from other applications are imported into the Flash application, which itself has drawing and painting tools for creating artwork.
Vector and Bitmapped Graphics, Sound and Video
Although bitmapped images can be used, Flash animations became very popular and widely used on the Web because they support vector graphics. Vector images are very space efficient compared to a sequence of bitmapped frames, and they scale up with accurate detail no matter how large the window is resized by the user. Flash files can also contain sound and video clips, providing a full multimedia container for animation and movie sequences. In fact, Flash became extremely popular as a video format because it lets authors easily add interactive controls (see Flash video).
Flash Applications
Flash is also used to create rich client applications. As of Version 5, Flash became fully programmable, enabling Flash to be used to create an interactive application that accepts input from the user. ActionScript and MXML are languages used to write Flash programs, and Flex is a Flash application development system (see Flex).
The SWF Format
Flash uses the .FLA file extension for source files and the .SWF extension for the resulting Flash file that is generated and played.
Originally, the SWF extension meant "ShockWave Flash," which had confused people because Shockwave is another Macromedia format created by its Director software. Shockwave files use the .DCR extension. Today, Macromedia/Adobe calls the SWF format the "Small Web Format." See Shockwave and vector graphics.
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Flash&i=43259,00.asp
(1) See also flash memory and flash button.
(2) A multimedia authoring and playback system from Adobe. Launched in 1996 by Macromedia, which was acquired by Adobe in 2005, Flash became popular for its animated graphics. Responsible for much of the animations, advertisements and video components found on today's Web sites, the Flash Player is a free client application that works with popular Web browsers. Generated in Macromedia authoring applications, such as Flash MX, Flash Basic and Flash Professional, Flash "movies" are played by the Flash Player within the browser or from within an application that accesses the Player.
Animation is choreographed using one or more sequential timelines in which actions and interactions are defined. Multimedia elements from other applications are imported into the Flash application, which itself has drawing and painting tools for creating artwork.
Vector and Bitmapped Graphics, Sound and Video
Although bitmapped images can be used, Flash animations became very popular and widely used on the Web because they support vector graphics. Vector images are very space efficient compared to a sequence of bitmapped frames, and they scale up with accurate detail no matter how large the window is resized by the user. Flash files can also contain sound and video clips, providing a full multimedia container for animation and movie sequences. In fact, Flash became extremely popular as a video format because it lets authors easily add interactive controls (see Flash video).
Flash Applications
Flash is also used to create rich client applications. As of Version 5, Flash became fully programmable, enabling Flash to be used to create an interactive application that accepts input from the user. ActionScript and MXML are languages used to write Flash programs, and Flex is a Flash application development system (see Flex).
The SWF Format
Flash uses the .FLA file extension for source files and the .SWF extension for the resulting Flash file that is generated and played.
Originally, the SWF extension meant "ShockWave Flash," which had confused people because Shockwave is another Macromedia format created by its Director software. Shockwave files use the .DCR extension. Today, Macromedia/Adobe calls the SWF format the "Small Web Format." See Shockwave and vector graphics.
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Flash&i=43259,00.asp