How should a programmer go about getting started with Flash/Flex/ActionScript? [closed]

Question

What is the shortest path between zero (ie no flash related development software on my computer or information about where to obtain it or get started) to running a "hello world" ActionScript?

I'm hoping for an answer that gives step by step instructions about exactly what software is needed to get started, an example of some "hello world" code, and instructions for compiling and running the code.

I've spent more time than I think should be necessary researching this question and not found much information. Hopefully this question will be found by programmers like me who want to get started with Flash/Flex/ActionScript (After my morning of researching I still don't even know what terminology to use so I'll just throw it all out there).

ActionScript tutorials I've found are focused on programming concepts, ie logic, branching, OOP, etc, and some even have code examples to download, but not a single one I've found explains how to compile and run the code. They all seem to assume you have an IDE standing by but no knowledge of programming, exactly the opposite of the position I'm in.

Here are the most related SO questions I've found:
What is Adobe Flex? Is it just Flash II?
Getting Started with Flex 3 UI ActionScript Programming
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2123105/how-to-learn-flex

Answer 1

If you're a programmer, go down the Flex route. Flex is completely free to use and you can get a Hello World SWF in no time. You can use the FlexBuilder demo or the freely available but sometimes less helpful FlashDevelop. (Actually I think the only problem with FlashDevelop is it doesn't have a good debugger, or didn't, last time I checked).

That said, I would strongly advise against using Flex, Flash, or any Adobe product really, because in my experience Flex is a horrible API and ActionScript is a horrible language. Flash is still the best platform for RIA just because of its penetration, so if AJAX can't solve your problems by all means learn Flex. Certainly it's not impossible to work with. But Flex is like the Java library re-interpreted by a team of people who took one Java class in high school.

Anyway,

1) Get the FlexBuilder demo from Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/flexdownloads/
I'm pretty confident it comes with the Flex SDK.

2) Start a new Flex project.

3) A basic MXML program is already written. Add <mx:Label text="Hello world" /> in the <mx:Application> tag

4) Run->Run YourProjectNameHere

5) Read the horrible Adobe documentation and Flex API reference.