* The revolutionary new AIR platform promises to change the way desktop applications are created; by leveraging existing Web technologies and platforms, AIR may put desktop development within reach of every Web developer* A detailed guide for building AIR applications, this book translates languages, frameworks, and architectures of existing Web development into successful strategies for building desktop apps in AIR* Readers learn to manipulate AIR to bring RIA development to the desktop* Builds progressively to more advanced topics, culminating in real-world applications that put the skills that readers have been developing throughout the book to work