document_title: Adobe Flash

question_text: what is the use of adobe flash cs3 professional

question_tokens: what is the use of adobe flash cs3 professional

text: Adobe Flash

text: Applications[edit]

text: Websites[edit]

text: In the early 2000s, Flash was widely installed on desktop computers, and was commonly used to display interactive web pages, online games, and to playback video and audio content.[3] In 2005, YouTube was founded by former PayPal employees, and it used Flash Player as a means to display compressed video content on the web.[3]

text: Between 2000 and 2010, numerous businesses used Flash-based websites to launch new products, or to create interactive company portals.[4] Notable users include Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, General Electric, World Wildlife Fund, HBO, Cartoon Network and Disney.[4][5] After Adobe introduced hardware-accelerated 3D for Flash (Stage3D), Flash websites saw a growth of 3D content for product demonstrations and virtual tours.[6][7]

text: In 2007, YouTube offered videos in HTML5 format to support the iPhone and iPad, which did not support Flash Player.[3] After a controversy with Apple, Adobe stopped developing Flash Player for Mobile, focussing its efforts on Adobe AIR applications and HTML5 animation.[3] In 2015, Google introduced Google Swiffy to convert Flash animation to HTML5, a tool Google would use to automatically convert Flash web ads for mobile devices.[8] In 2015, YouTube switched to HTML5 technology on all devices, however it will preserve the Flash-based video player for older web browsers.[9][10][11]

text: RIAs[edit]

text: After Flash 5 introduced ActionScript in 2000, developers combined the visual and programming capabilities of Flash to produce interactive experiences and applications for the Web.[12] Such Web-based applications eventually came to be known as "Rich Internet Applications" (RIAs).[12]

text: In 2004, Macromedia Flex was released, and specifically targeted the application development market.[12] Flex introduced new user interface components, advanced data visualization components, data remoting, and a modern IDE (Flash Builder).[12][13] Flex competed with Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) and Microsoft Silverlight during its tenure.[12] Flex was upgraded to support integration with remote data sources, using AMF, BlazeDS, Adobe LiveCycle, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, and others.[14] As of 2015, Flex applications can be published for desktop platforms using Adobe AIR.[12]

text: Between 2006 and 2016, the Speedtest.net web service conducted over 9.0 billion speed tests using an RIA built with Adobe Flash.[15][16] In 2016, the service shifted to HTML5 due to the decreasing availability of Adobe Flash Player on PCs.[17]

text: As of 2016, Web applications and RIAs can be developed with Flash using the ActionScript 3.0 programming language and related tools such as Adobe Flash Builder. Third-party IDEs such as FlashDevelop and Powerflasher FDT also enable developers to create Flash games and applications, and are generally similar to Microsoft Visual Studio. Flex applications are typically built using Flex frameworks such as PureMVC.[14]

text: Video games[edit]

text: Flash video games were popular on the Internet, with portals like Newgrounds dedicated to hosting of Flash-based games. Popular games developed with Flash include Angry Birds, Clash of Clans, FarmVille, AdventureQuest, Machinarium, Hundreds, N, QWOP and Solipskier.

text: Adobe introduced various technologies to help build video games, including Adobe AIR (to release games for desktop or mobile platforms), Adobe Scout (to improve performance), CrossBridge (to convert C++-based games to run in Flash), and Stage3D (to support GPU-accelerated video games). 3D frameworks like Away3D and Flare3D simplified creation of 3D content for Flash.

text: Adobe AIR allows creation of Flash-based mobile games, which may be published to the Google Play and iTunes app stores.

text: Flash is also used to build interfaces and HUDs for 3D video games using Scaleform GFx, a technology that renders Flash content within non-Flash video games. Scaleform is supported by more than 10 major video game engines including Unreal Engine, UDK, CryEngine and PhyreEngine, and has been used to provide 3D interfaces for more than 150 major video game titles since its launch in 2003.

text: Film and animation[edit]

text: Adobe Animate is one of the common animation programs for low-cost 2D television and commercial animation, in competition with Anime Studio and Toon Boom Animation.

text: Notable users of Flash include DHX Media Vancouver for productions including Pound Puppies and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Fresh TV for Total Drama, Nelvana for 6teen and Clone High, Williams Street for Metalocalypse and Squidbillies, Nickelodeon Animation Studios for Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Danny Phantom, and more.

text: Flash is less commonly used for feature-length animated films; however, 2009's The Secret of Kells, an Irish film, was animated primarily in Adobe Flash, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards.

text: Several popular online series are currently produced in Flash, such as the Emmy Award-winning Off-Mikes, produced by ESPN and Animax Entertainment; Happy Tree Friends; Gotham Girls, produced by Warner Brothers; Crime Time, produced by Future Thought Productions and Homestar Runner produced by Mike and Matt Chapman.

text: Various third-party software packages designed for traditionally trained cartoonists and animators can publish animations in the SWF format.

text: History[edit]

text: FutureWave[edit]

text: The precursor to Flash was a product named SmartSketch, published by FutureWave Software. The company was founded by Charlie Jackson, Jonathan Gay, and Michelle Welsh.[18][19][20][21] SmartSketch was a vector drawing application for pen computers running the PenPoint OS.[22][23] When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.[19][24]

text: As the Internet became more popular, FutureWave realized the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might challenge Macromedia Shockwave technology.[18][19] In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and released this new product as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC.[18][19][25][26]

text: FutureWave approached Adobe Systems with an offer to sell them FutureSplash in 1995, but Adobe turned down the offer at that time.[19] Microsoft wanted to create an "online TV network" (MSN 2.0) and adopted FutureSplash animated content as a central part of it.[19] Disney Online used FutureSplash animations for their subscription-based service Disney's Daily Blast.[18][19] Fox Broadcasting Company launched The Simpsons using FutureSplash.[19]

text: Macromedia[edit]

text: In November 1996, FutureSplash was acquired by Macromedia, and Macromedia re-branded and released FutureSplash Animator as Macromedia Flash 1.0. Flash was a two-part system, a graphics and animation editor known as Macromedia Flash, and a player known as Macromedia Flash Player.

text: FutureSplash Animator was an animation tool originally developed for pen-based computing devices. Due to the small size of the FutureSplash Viewer, it was particularly suited for download on the Web. Macromedia distributed Flash Player as a free browser plugin in order to quickly gain market share. By 2005, more computers worldwide had Flash Player installed than any other Web media format, including Java, QuickTime, RealNetworks and Windows Media Player.[27]

text: Macromedia upgraded the Flash system between 1996 and 1999 adding MovieClips, Actions (the precursor to ActionScript), Alpha transparency, and other features. As Flash matured, Macromedia's focus shifted from marketing it as a graphics and media tool to promoting it as a Web application platform, adding scripting and data access capabilities to the player while attempting to retain its small footprint.

text: In 2000, the first major version of ActionScript was developed, and released with Flash 5. Actionscript 2.0 was released with Flash MX 2004 and supported object-oriented programming, improved UI components and other programming features. The last version of Flash released by Macromedia was Flash 8, which focused on graphical upgrades such as filters (blur, drop shadow, etc.), blend modes (similar to Adobe Photoshop), and advanced features for FLV video.

text: Adobe[edit]

text: Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2005, and the entire Macromedia product line including Flash, Dreamweaver, Director/Shockwave, Fireworks (which has since been discontinued) and Authorware is now handled by Adobe.

text: In 2007, Adobe's first version release was Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, the ninth major version of Flash. It introduced the ActionScript 3.0 programming language, which supported modern programming practices and enabled business applications to be developed with Flash. Adobe Flex Builder (built on Eclipse) targeted the enterprise application development market, and was also released the same year. Flex Builder included the Flex SDK, a set of components that included charting, advanced UI, and data services (Flex Data Services).

text: In 2008, Adobe released the tenth version of Flash, Adobe Flash CS4. Flash 10 improved animation capabilities within the Flash editor, adding a motion editor panel (similar to Adobe After Effects), inverse kinematics (bones), basic 3D object animation, object-based animation, and other text and graphics features. Flash Player 10 included an in-built 3D engine (without GPU acceleration) that allowed basic object transformations in 3D space (position, rotation, scaling).

text: Also in 2008, Adobe released the first version of Adobe Integrated Runtime (later re-branded as Adobe AIR), a runtime engine that replaced Flash Player, and provided additional capabilities to the ActionScript 3.0 language to build desktop and mobile applications. With AIR, developers could access the file system (the user's files and folders), and connected devices suxh as joystick, gamepad and sensors for the first time.

text: In 2011, Adobe Flash Player 11 was released, and with it the first version of Stage3D, allowing GPU-accelerated 3D rendering for Flash applications and games on desktop platforms such as Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.[28] Adobe further improved 3D capabilities from 2011 to 2013, adding support for 3D rendering on Android and iOS platforms, alpha-channels, compressed textures, texture atlases, and other features.[29][30] Adobe AIR was upgraded to support 64-bit computers, and to allow developers to add additional functionality to the AIR runtime using AIR Native Extensions (ANE).

text: In 2014, Adobe AIR reached a milestone with over 100,000 unique applications built, and over 1 billion installations logged across the world (May 2014).[31][32] Adobe AIR was voted the Best Mobile Application Development product at the Consumer Electronics Show on two consecutive years (CES 2014 and CES 2015).[33][34] In 2016, Adobe renamed Flash Professional, the primary authoring software for Flash content, to Adobe Animate to reflect its growing use for authoring HTML5 content in favour of Flash content.[35]

text: Open Screen Project[edit]

text: On May 1, 2008, Adobe announced the Open Screen Project, with the intent of providing a consistent application interface across devices such as personal computers, mobile devices, and consumer electronics.[36] When the project was announced, seven goals were outlined: the abolition of licensing fees for Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Integrated Runtime, the removal of restrictions on the use of the Shockwave Flash (SWF) and Flash Video (FLV) file formats, the publishing of application programming interfaces for porting Flash to new devices, and the publishing of The Flash Cast protocol and Action Message Format (AMF), which let Flash applications receive information from remote databases.[36]

text: As of February 2009[update], the specifications removing the restrictions on the use of SWF and FLV/F4V specs have been published.[37] The Flash Cast protocol—now known as the Mobile Content Delivery Protocol—and AMF protocols have also been made available,[37] with AMF available as an open source implementation, BlazeDS.

text: The list of mobile device providers who have joined the project includes Palm, Motorola, and Nokia,[38] who, together with Adobe, have announced a $10 million Open Screen Project fund.[39] As of 2012[update], the Open Screen Project is no longer accepting new applications according to partner BSQuare. However paid licensing is still an option for device makers who want to use Adobe software.[citation needed]

text: End of life[edit]

text: Although Flash was previously a dominant platform for online multimedia content, it is slowly being abandoned as Adobe favors a transition to HTML5 due to inherent security flaws and significant resources required to maintain the platform. Apple restricted the use of Flash on iOS due to concerns that it performed poorly on its mobile devices, had negative impact on battery life, and was deemed unnecessary for online content.[40][41] As a result, it was not adopted by Apple for its smartphone and tablet devices, which also reduced its user base and encouraged wider adoption of HTML5 features such as the canvas and video elements, which can replace Flash without the need for plugins. In 2015, Adobe rebranded its Flash authoring environment as Adobe Animate to emphasize its expanded support for HTML5 authoring, and stated that it would "encourage content creators to build with new web standards" rather than using Flash.[42] In July 2017, Adobe announced that it would declare Flash to be end-of-life in 2020, and will cease support, distribution, and security updates to Flash Player.[43] After the announcement, developers have started a petition to turn Flash into an open-source project, leading to controversy.[44]

text: The Flash Platform will continue in the form of Adobe AIR, which Adobe will continue to develop, and OpenFL, an open-source implementation of the Flash Player.

text: Format[edit]

text: FLA[edit]

text: Flash source files are in the FLA format, and contain graphics and animation, as well as embedded assets such as bitmap images, audio files and FLV video files. The Flash source file format is a proprietary format and Adobe Animate is the only available authoring tool capable of editing such files. Flash source files (.fla) may be compiled into Flash movie files (.swf) using Adobe Animate. Note that FLA files can be edited, but output (.swf) files cannot.

text: SWF[edit]

text: Flash movie files are in the SWF format, traditionally called "ShockWave Flash" movies, "Flash movies", or "Flash applications", usually have a .swf file extension, and may be used in the form of a web page plug-in, strictly "played" in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a self-executing Projector movie (with the .exe extension in Microsoft Windows). Flash Video files[spec 1] have a .flv file extension and are either used from within .swf files or played through a flv-aware player, such as VLC, or QuickTime and Windows Media Player with external codecs added.

text: The use of vector graphics combined with program code allows Flash files to be smaller—and thus allows streams to use less bandwidth—than the corresponding bitmaps or video clips. For content in a single format (such as just text, video, or audio), other alternatives may provide better performance and consume less CPU power than the corresponding Flash movie, for example when using transparency or making large screen updates such as photographic or text fades.

text: In addition to a vector-rendering engine, the Flash Player includes a virtual machine called the ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM) for scripting interactivity at run-time, with video, MP3-based audio, and bitmap graphics. As of Flash Player 8, it offers two video codecs: On2 Technologies VP6 and Sorenson Spark, and run-time JPEG, Progressive JPEG, PNG, and GIF capability.

text: Flash Player 11 introduced a full 3D shader API, called Stage3D, which is fairly similar to WebGL.[45][46] Stage3D enables GPU-accelerated rendering of 3D graphics within Flash games and applications, and has been used to build Angry Birds, and a couple of other notable games.

text: Various 3D frameworks have been built for Flash using Stage3D, such as Away3D 4,[46] CopperCube,[47] Flare3D,[48] Starling,.[49]:vii Professional game engines like Unreal Engine[50][51] and Unity also export Flash versions which use Stage3D to render 3D graphics.

text: Flash Video[edit]

text: Virtually all browser plugins for video are free of charge and cross-platform, including Adobe's offering of Flash Video, which was first introduced with Flash version 6. Flash Video has been a popular choice for websites due to the large installed user base and programmability of Flash. In 2010, Apple publicly criticized Adobe Flash, including its implementation of video playback for not taking advantage of hardware acceleration, one reason Flash is not to be found on Apple's mobile devices. Soon after Apple's criticism, Adobe demoed and released a beta version of Flash 10.1, which takes advantage of GPU hardware acceleration even on a Mac. Flash 10.2 beta, released December 2010, adds hardware acceleration for the whole video rendering pipeline.

text: Flash Player supports two distinct modes of video playback, and hardware accelerated video decoding may not be used for older video content. Such content causes excessive CPU usage compared to comparable content played with other players.

text:
Software Rendered Video : Flash Player supports software rendered video since version 6. Such video supports vector animations displayed above the video content. This obligation may, depending on graphic APIs exposed by the operating system, prohibit using a video overlay, like a traditional multimedia player would use, with the consequence that color space conversion and scaling must happen in software.[52]
Hardware Accelerated Video : Flash Player supports hardware accelerated video playback since version 10.2, for H.264, F4V, and FLV video formats. Such video is displayed above all Flash content, and takes advantage of video codec chipsets installed on the user's device. Developers must specifically use the "StageVideo" technology within Flash Player in order for hardware decoding to be enabled. Flash Player internally uses technologies such as DirectX Video Acceleration and OpenGL to do so.

text: In tests done by Ars Technica in 2008 and 2009, Adobe Flash Player performed better on Windows than Mac OS X and Linux with the same hardware.[53][54] Performance has later improved for the latter two, on Mac OS X with Flash Player 10.1,[55] and on Linux with Flash Player 11.[56]

text: Flash Audio[edit]

text: Flash Audio is most commonly encoded in MP3 or AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) however it can also use ADPCM, Nellymoser (Nellymoser Asao Codec) and Speex audio codecs. Flash allows sample rates of 11, 22 and 44.1 kHz. It cannot have 48 kHz audio sample rate, which is the standard TV and DVD sample rate.

text: On August 20, 2007, Adobe announced on its blog that with Update 3 of Flash Player 9, Flash Video will also implement some parts of the MPEG-4 international standards.[57] Specifically, Flash Player will work with video compressed in H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10), audio compressed using AAC (MPEG-4 Part 3), the F4V, MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), M4V, M4A, 3GP and MOV multimedia container formats, 3GPP Timed Text specification (MPEG-4 Part 17), which is a standardized subtitle format and partial parsing capability for the 'ilst' atom, which is the ID3 equivalent iTunes uses to store metadata. MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.263 will not work in F4V file format. Adobe also announced that it will be gradually moving away from the FLV format to the standard ISO base media file format (MPEG-4 Part 12) owing to functional limits with the FLV structure when streaming H.264. The final release of the Flash Player implementing some parts of MPEG-4 standards had become available in Fall 2007.[58]

text: Adobe Flash Player 10.1 does not have acoustic echo cancellation, unlike the VoIP offerings of Skype and Google Voice, making this and earlier versions of Flash less suitable for group calling or meetings. Flash Player 10.3 Beta incorporates acoustic echo cancellation.

text: Scripting language[edit]

text: ActionScript is the programming language used by Flash. It is an enhanced superset of the ECMAScript programming language, with a classical Java-style class model, rather than JavaScript's prototype model.

text: Specifications[edit]

text: In October 1998, Macromedia disclosed the Flash Version 3 Specification on its website. It did this in response to many new and often semi-open formats competing with SWF, such as Xara's Flare and Sharp's Extended Vector Animation formats. Several developers quickly created a C library for producing SWF. In February 1999, MorphInk 99 was introduced, the first third-party program to create SWF files. Macromedia also hired Middlesoft to create a freely available developers' kit for the SWF file format versions 3 to 5.

text: Macromedia made the Flash Files specifications for versions 6 and later available only under a non-disclosure agreement, but they are widely available from various sites.

text: In April 2006, the Flash SWF file format specification was released with details on the then newest version format (Flash 8). Although still lacking specific information on the incorporated video compression formats (On2, Sorenson Spark, etc.), this new documentation covered all the new features offered in Flash v8 including new ActionScript commands, expressive filter controls, and so on. The file format specification document is offered only to developers who agree to a license agreement that permits them to use the specifications only to develop programs that can export to the Flash file format. The license does not allow the use of the specifications to create programs that can be used for playback of Flash files. The Flash 9 specification was made available under similar restrictions.[59]

text: In June 2009, Adobe launched the Open Screen Project (Adobe link), which made the SWF specification available without restrictions. Previously, developers could not use the specification for making SWF-compatible players, but only for making SWF-exporting authoring software. The specification still omits information on codecs such as Sorenson Spark, however.[60]

text: Animation tools[edit]

text: Official tools[edit]

text: The Adobe Animate authoring program is primarily used to design graphics and animation and publish the same for websites, web applications, and video games. The program also offers limited support for audio and video embedding, and ActionScript scripting.

text: Adobe released Adobe LiveMotion, designed to create interactive animation content and export it to a variety of formats, including SWF. LiveMotion failed to gain any notable user base.[specify]

text: In February 2003, Macromedia purchased Presedia, which had developed a Flash authoring tool that automatically converted PowerPoint files into Flash. Macromedia subsequently released the new product as Breeze, which included many new enhancements.

text: Third-party tools[edit]

text: Various free and commercial software packages can output animations into the Flash SWF format, suitable for display on the web, including:

text:
SWiSH Max is an animation editor with preset animation, developed by an ex-employee of Macromedia, that can output Flash animations
Toon Boom is a traditional animation tool that can output Flash animations
Apple Keynote allows users to export presentations to Flash SWF animations
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer can output Flash animations
Ajax Animator aim to create a Flash development environment
KToon can edit vectors and generate SWF, but its interface is very different from Macromedia's
Screencast and Screencam, produces demos or tutorials by capturing the screen and generating a Flash animation of the same
GoAnimate is a software as a service tool to create animated videos.
Anime Studio is a 2D animation software package specialized for character animation, that creates Flash animations
Question Writer publishes its quizzes to Flash animations
OpenOffice Impress
Toufee
KoolMoves
Express Animator
CelAction2D
Alligator Flash Designer
Amara Web
Clash
Salasaga
Synfig

text: The Flash 4 Linux project was an initiative to develop an open source Linux application as an alternative to Adobe Animate. Development plans included authoring capacity for 2D animation, and tweening, as well as outputing SWF file formats. F4L evolved into an editor that was capable of authoring 2D animation and publishing of SWF files. Flash 4 Linux was renamed UIRA. UIRA intended to combine the resources and knowledge of the F4L project and the Qflash project, both of which were Open Source applications that aimed to provide an alternative to the proprietary Adobe Flash.

text: Programming tools[edit]

text: Official tools[edit]

text: Adobe provides a series of tools to develop software applications and video games for Flash:

text:
Apache Flex SDK – a free, open source SDK to compile Flash-based rich Internet applications from source code. The Apache Flex ActionScript 3.0 compiler generates SWF files from ActionScript 3 files. Flex was the primary ActionScript 3 compiler and was actively developed by Adobe before it was donated to Apache Software Foundation in 2011.
Adobe Animate – primarily used to design graphics and animation, but supports ActionScript scripting and debugging.
Adobe Flash Builder – enterprise application development & debugging, contains the Flex SDK with UI and charting components.
Adobe Scout – a visual profiler to optimize performance of Flash content.
CrossBridge – a free SDK to cross-compile C++ code to run in Flash Player.

text: Third-party tools[edit]

text: Third-party development tools have been created to assist developers in creating software applications and video games with Flash.

text:
FlashDevelop is a free and open-source Flash ActionScript IDE, which includes a project manager and debugger for building applications on Flash Player and Adobe AIR.
Powerflasher FDT is a commercial ActionScript IDE similar to FlashDevelop.
Haxe is an open source, high-level object-oriented programming language geared towards web-content creation that can compile SWF files from Haxe programs. As of 2012, Haxe can build programs for Flash Player that perform faster than the same application built with the Adobe Flex SDK compiler, due to additional compiler optimizations supported in Haxe.[61][unreliable source?]
SWFTools (specifically, swfc) is an open-source ActionScript 3.0 compiler which generates SWF files from script files, which includes SVG tags.
swfmill and MTASC also provide tools to create SWF files by compiling text, ActionScript or XML files into Flash animations
Ming library, to create SWF files programmatically, has interfaces for C, PHP, C++, Perl, Python, and Ruby. It is able to import and export graphics from XML into SWF.

text: Players[edit]

text: Proprietary[edit]

text: Adobe Flash Player is the multimedia and application player originally developed by Macromedia and acquired by Adobe Systems. It plays SWF files, which can be created by Adobe Animate, Apache Flex, or a number of other Adobe Systems and 3rd party tools. It has support for a scripting language called ActionScript, which can be used to display Flash Video from an SWF file.

text: Scaleform GFx is a commercial alternative Flash player that features fully hardware-accelerated 2D graphics rendering using the GPU. Scaleform has high conformance with both Flash 10 ActionScript 3[62] and Flash 8 ActionScript 2. Scaleform GFx is a game development middleware solution that helps create graphical user interfaces or HUDs within 3D video games. It does not work with web browsers.

text: IrfanView, an image viewer, uses Flash Player to display SWF files.

text: Open source[edit]

text: OpenFL is an open-source implementation of the Adobe Flash player and runtime. It allows developers to build a single application against the OpenFL APIs, and simultaneously target multiple platforms including Flash/AIR, HTML5, Windows, Android, Tizen, Neko, BlackBerry and webOS. OpenFL mirrors the Flash API for graphical operations. OpenFL applications are written in Haxe, a modern multi-platform programming language.

text: Lightspark is a free and open source SWF player that supports most of ActionScript 3.0 and has a Mozilla-compatible plug-in.[63] It will fall back on Gnash, a free SWF player supporting ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0 (AVM1) code. Lightspark supports OpenGL-based rendering for 3D content. The player is also compatible with H.264 Flash videos on YouTube.

text: Gnash aims to create a software player and browser plugin replacement for the Adobe Flash Player. Gnash can play SWF files up to version 7, and 80% of ActionScript 2.0.[64] Gnash run on Windows, Linux and other platforms for the 32-bit, 64-bit, and other operating systems, but development has slowed significantly in recent years.

text: Shumway was an open source Flash Player released by Mozilla in November 2012. It was built in JavaScript and is thus compatible with modern web-browsers.[65][66][67] In early October 2013, Shumway was included by default in the Firefox nightly branch.[68] Shumway rendered Flash contents by translating contents inside Flash files to HTML5 elements, and running an ActionScript interpreter in JavaScript.[69] It supported both AVM1 and AVM2, and ActionScript versions 1, 2, and 3.[70] Development of Shumway ceased in early 2016.[71]

text: Adobe Flash Player cannot ship as part of a pure open source, or completely free operating system, as its distribution is bound to the Macromedia Licensing Program and subject to proposition first from Adobe.[72]

text: Availability[edit]

text: Desktop computers[edit]

text: Flash Player[edit]

text: The latest version of Adobe Flash Player is available for three major desktop platforms, including Windows, macOS and Linux.[73] On Linux the PPAPI plug-in is available; the NPAPI version wasn't updated to new major versions for a while[74] until Adobe changed its mind on stopping support and its former plan to discontinue "in 2017".[75]

text: Adobe Flash Player is available in four flavors:

text:
ActiveX-based Plug-in
NPAPI-based Plug-in
PPAPI-based Plug-in
Projector

text: The ActiveX version is an ActiveX control for use in Internet Explorer and any other Windows applications that supports ActiveX technology. The Plug-in versions are available for browsers supporting either NPAPI or PPAPI plug-ins on Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux. The projector version is a standalone player that can open SWF files directly.[76]

text: The following table documents Flash Player and Adobe AIR support on desktop operating systems:

text:
Operating System
Prerequisites
Usage
Latest Adobe Flash Player
Browser Support

Microsoft Windows
Windows XP (32-bit, AIR only) / Vista (32-bit, AIR only) / 7 / 8.1 / 10[73][77]
Internet Browser, Standalone Applications
Flash Player 25.0,[78] AIR 25.0[79]
Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, Opera

macOS
OS X 10.9 or newer (Flash Player)[73] / Mac OS X 10.7 or newer (AIR)[77]
Internet Browser, Standalone Applications
Flash Player 25.0,[78] AIR 25.0[79]
Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, Opera

Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 or newer / openSUSE 11.3 or newer / Ubuntu 10.04 or newer[73]
Internet Browser
Flash Player 25.0.0.127 (NPAPI), Flash Player 25.0.0.127 (PPAPI)[78]
Firefox (NPAPI) / Chrome, Chromium, Opera (PPAPI)

text: Adobe AIR[edit]

text: The latest version of Adobe AIR, version 18, contains Adobe Flash Player 18, and is available for Windows XP and later, as well as macOS.[80] Official support for desktop Linux distributions ceased in June 2011 with version 2.6.[81]

text:
Platform
Installer file support
App Store support

Windows
.air, .exe and .msi[82][83]
None

macOS
.air and .dmg[83]
With captive runtime[84]

Android
.apk[85]
Google Play[85]

iOS
.ipa[86]
iTunes Store[86]

PlayBook
.bar[87]
BlackBerry App World[87]

text: Mobile devices[edit]

text: Flash Player[edit]

text: Adobe Flash Player was available for a variety of mobile operating systems, including Android (between versions 2.2[88] and 4.0.4[89]), Pocket PC/Windows CE, QNX (e.g. on BlackBerry PlayBook), Symbian, Palm OS, and webOS (since version 2.0[90]). Flash Player for smart phones was made available to handset manufacturers at the end of 2009.[91]

text: However, in November 2011, Adobe announced the withdrawal of support for Flash Player on mobile devices.[92] Adobe continues to support deploying Flash-based content as mobile applications via Adobe AIR.

text: Adobe is reaffirming its commitment to "aggressively contribute" to HTML5.[93][94] Adobe announced the end of Flash for mobile platforms or TV, instead focusing on HTML5 for browser content and Adobe AIR for the various mobile application stores[95][96][97][98] and described it as "the beginning of the end".[99] BlackBerry LTD (formerly known as RIM) announced that it would continue to develop Flash Player for the PlayBook.[100]

text: There is no Adobe Flash Player for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch). However, Flash content can be made to run on iOS devices in a variety of ways:

text:
Flash content can be bundled inside an Adobe AIR app, which will then run on iOS devices. (Apple did not allow this for a while, but they relaxed those restrictions in September 2010.[101])
On March 8, 2011, Techradar reported that Adobe provides an experimental server side tool (Wallaby) to convert Flash programs (as far as possible) to HTML5 code, thus allowing iOS devices to display the content.[102]
If the content is Flash video being served by Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5, the server will translate and send the video as HTTP Dynamic Streaming or HTTP Live Streaming, both of which can be played by iOS devices.[103]
Some specialized mobile browsers manage to accommodate Flash via streaming content from the cloud directly to a user's device. Some examples are Photon Browser[104] and Puffin Web Browser.[105]

text: The mobile version of Internet Explorer for Windows Phone cannot play Flash content,[106] however Flash support is still present on the tablet version of Windows.[107]

text: Adobe AIR[edit]

text: This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2016)

text: Adobe AIR was released in 2008, and allows the creation of mobile applications and mobile games using Flash and ActionScript. Notable mobile games built with Flash include Angry Birds, Machinarium and Defend Your Castle.

text: Using AIR, developers can access the full Adobe Flash functionality, including text, vector graphics, raster graphics, video, audio, camera and microphone capability. Adobe AIR also includes additional features such as file system integration, native client extensions, desktop integration and access to connected devices and sensors.

text: AIR applications can be published as native phone applications on certain mobile operating systems, such as Android (ARM Cortex-A8 and above[108]) and Apple iOS.[80]

text: The following table explains to what extent Adobe AIR can run on various mobile operating systems:

text:
Operating System
Prerequisites
Latest Adobe Flash Player
AIR Framework

Android
Android 2.3+, ARM Cortex-A8+[109] or Android x86[110]
AIR 3.6.0.597 (uses Flash Player 11.6)[111]
Option 1: The AIR player can be embedded as a 'captive' runtime, which increases APK size but makes the application standalone.[112]
Option 2: The runtime is not included with the app, and must installed as a separate app from the app market.[113]

Apple iOS
iOS 4.3 or later
AIR 3.6.0.597 (uses Flash Player 11.6)[111]
Not applicable: each app includes its own 'captive' runtime.[114]

BlackBerry Tablet OS
None
AIR 3.1 (uses Flash Player 11.1)[115][116]
Already pre-installed on each device.[114]

BlackBerry 10
Blackberry 10.2 and lower (no longer supported from 10.3)[117]
AIR 3.5 (uses Flash Player 11.1)
Already pre-installed on each device.

text: Portable electronic devices[edit]

text: Adobe Flash Lite is a lightweight version of Adobe Flash Player intended for mobile phones[118] and other portable electronic devices like Chumby and iRiver.

text: On the emerging single-board enthusiast market, as substantially popularized by the Raspberry Pi, support from Adobe is lacking. However, the open-source player Gnash has been ported and found to be useful.[119]

text: Alternatives[edit]

text: OpenFL[edit]

text: OpenFL is an open-source implementation of the Adobe Flash technology. It allows developers to build a single application against the OpenFL APIs, and simultaneously target multiple platforms including Flash/AIR, HTML5, Windows, Android, Tizen, Neko, BlackBerry and webOS. OpenFL mirrors the Flash API for graphical operations. OpenFL applications are written in Haxe, a modern multi-platform programming language.

text: More than 500 video games have been developed with OpenFL[120], including the BAFTA-award-winning game Papers, Please, Rymdkapsel, Lightbot and Madden NFL Mobile.

text: HTML5 is often cited as an alternative to Adobe Flash technology usage on web pages. Adobe released a tool that converts Flash to HTML5,[121] and in June 2011, Google released an experimental tool that does the same.[122][123] In January 2015, YouTube defaulted to HTML5 players to better support more devices.[124]

text: Flash to HTML5[edit]

text: The following tools allow running Flash content in web browsers using HTML5:

text:
Adobe Edge Animate was designed to produce HTML5 animations directly.[125]
Adobe Animate now allows Flash animations to be published into HTML5 content directly.
Google Swiffy - A web-based tool developed by Google that converts SWF files into HTML5, using SVG for graphics and JavaScript for animation
Mozilla Shumway, a Flash virtual machine written in JavaScript.
CreateJS is library that while available separately was also adopted by Adobe as a replacement for Wallaby in CS6. Unlike Wallaby, which was a standalone program, the "Toolkit for CreateJS" only works as a plug-in inside Flash Professional; it generates output for the HTML5 canvas, animated with JavaScript.[126][127] Around December 2013, the toolkit was integrated directly into Flash Professional CC.[128][129]

text: Criticisms[edit]

text: Mobile support[edit]

text: Websites built with Adobe Flash will not function on most modern mobile devices running Google Android or iOS (iPhone, iPad). The only alternative is using HTML5 and responsive web design to build websites that support both desktop and mobile devices.

text: However, Flash is still used to build mobile games using Adobe AIR. Such games will not work in mobile web browsers, but must be installed via the appropriate app store.

text: Vendor dependence[edit]

text: The reliance on Adobe for decoding Flash makes its use on the World Wide Web a concern—the completeness of its public specifications are debated, and no complete implementation of Flash is publicly available in source code form with a license that permits reuse. Generally, public specifications are what makes a format re-implementable (see future proofing data storage), and reusable codebases can be ported to new platforms without the endorsement of the format creator.

text: Adobe's restrictions on the use of the SWF/FLV specifications were lifted in February 2009 (see Adobe's Open Screen Project). However, despite efforts of projects like Gnash, Swfdec and Lightspark, a complete free Flash player is yet to be seen, as of September 2011. For example, Gnash cannot use SWF v10 yet.[130] Notably, Gnash was listed on the Free Software Foundation's high priority list, from at least 2007, to its overdue removal in January 2017.[131]

text: Notable advocates of free software, open standards, and the World Wide Web have warned against the use of Flash:

text: The founder of Mozilla Europe, Tristan Nitot, stated in 2008:[132]

text: Companies building websites should beware of proprietary rich-media technologies like Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight. (...) You're producing content for your users and there's someone in the middle deciding whether users should see your content.

text: Representing open standards, inventor of CSS and co-author of HTML5, Håkon Wium Lie explained in a Google tech talk of 2007, entitled "the <video> element", the proposal of Theora as the format for HTML5 video:[133]

text: I believe very strongly, that we need to agree on some kind of baseline video format if [the video element] is going to succeed. Flash is today the baseline format on the web. The problem with Flash is that it's not an open standard.

text: Representing the free software movement, Richard Stallman stated in a speech in 2004 that:[134] "The use of Flash in websites is a major problem for our community."

text: Accessibility[edit]

text: Usability consultant Jakob Nielsen published an Alertbox in 2000 entitled, Flash: 99% Bad, stating that "Flash tends to degrade websites for three reasons: it encourages design abuse, it breaks with the Web's fundamental interaction principles, and it distracts attention from the site's core value."[135] Some problems have been at least partially fixed since Nielsen's complaints: Text size can be controlled using full page zoom and it has been possible for authors to include alternative text in Flash since Flash Player 6.

text: Flash blocking in web browsers[edit]

text: Flash content is usually embedded using the object or embed HTML element.[136] A web browser that does not fully implement one of these elements displays the replacement text, if supplied by the web page. Often, a plugin is required for the browser to fully implement these elements, though some users cannot or will not install it.

text: Since Flash can be used to produce content (such as advertisements) that some users find obnoxious or take a large amount of bandwidth to download, some web browsers, by default, do not play Flash content until the user clicks on it, e.g. Konqueror, K-Meleon.

text: Most current browsers have a feature to block plugins, playing one only when the user clicks it. Opera versions since 10.5 feature native Flash blocking. Opera Turbo requires the user to click to play Flash content, and the browser also allows the user to enable this option permanently. Both Chrome[137] and Firefox[138] have an option to enable "click to play plugins". Equivalent "Flash blocker" extensions are also available for many popular browsers: Firefox has Flashblock and NoScript, Internet Explorer has Foxie, which contains a number of features, one of them named Flashblock. WebKit-based browsers under macOS, such as Apple's Safari, have ClickToFlash.[139]  In June 2015, Google announced that Chrome will "pause" advertisements and "non-central" Flash content by default.[140]

text: Firefox (from version 46) rewrites old Flash-only YouTube embed code into YouTube's modern embedded player that is capable of using either HTML5 or Flash.[141] Such embed code is used by non-YouTube sites to embed YouTube's videos, and can still be encountered, for example, on old blogs and forums.

text: Security[edit]

text: For many years Adobe Flash Player's security record[142] has led many security experts to recommend against installing the player, or to block Flash content.[143][144] The US-CERT has recommended blocking Flash,[145] and security researcher Charlie Miller recommended "not to install Flash";[146] however, for people still using Flash, Intego recommended that users get trusted updates "only directly from the vendor that publishes them."[147] As of February 12, 2015, Adobe Flash Player has over 400 CVE entries,[148] of which over 300 lead to arbitrary code execution, and past vulnerabilities have enabled spying via web cameras.[149][150][151][152] Security experts have long predicted the demise of Flash, saying that with the rise of HTML5 "...the need for browser plugins such as Flash is diminishing",[153] as only 7 to 10 percent of websites still use it.[154][155]

text: Active moves by third parties to limit the risk began with Steve Jobs in 2010 saying that Apple would not allow Flash on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad – citing abysmal security as one reason.[156] Flash often used the ability to dynamically change parts of the runtime on languages on OSX to improve their own performance, but caused general instability. In July 2015, a series of newly discovered vulnerabilities resulted in Facebook's chief security officer, Alex Stamos, issuing a call to Adobe to discontinue the software entirely[157] and the Mozilla Firefox web browser, Google Chrome and Apple Safari to blacklist all earlier versions of Flash Player.[158][159][160][161]

text: As a result, "Adobe has essentially stopped trying to do anything new and innovative with Flash."[155]

text: Flash cookies[edit]

text: Like the HTTP cookie, a flash cookie (also known as a “Local Shared Object”) can be used to save application data. Flash cookies are not shared across domains. An August 2009 study by the Ashkan Soltani and a team of researchers at UC Berkeley found that 50% of websites using Flash were also employing flash cookies, yet privacy policies rarely disclosed them, and user controls for privacy preferences were lacking.[162] Most browsers' cache and history suppress or delete functions did not affect Flash Player's writing Local Shared Objects to its own cache in version 10.2 and earlier, at which point the user community was much less aware of the existence and function of Flash cookies than HTTP cookies.[163] Thus, users with those versions, having deleted HTTP cookies and purged browser history files and caches, may believe that they have purged all tracking data from their computers when in fact Flash browsing history remains. Adobe's own Flash Website Storage Settings panel, a submenu of Adobe's Flash Settings Manager web application, and other editors and toolkits can manage settings for and delete Flash Local Shared Objects.[164]


document_title: Flight (Grey's Anatomy)

question_text: who died in the plane crash greys anatomy

root

text: Flight (Grey's Anatomy)

text: Plot[edit]

text: After their plane crashes in the woods, Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Dr. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw), Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) desperately fight to stay alive. Meredith is relatively unscathed, while the rest have serious injuries: the pilot, Jerry (James LeGros), has a major spine injury, and Yang dislocates her arm. Robbins' femur is broken and sticking through the skin, Sloan has serious internal injuries; though initially adrenaline keeps him on his feet. Shepherd is sucked out the side of the plane and awakens alone in the wood; his mangled hand having been pushed through the door of the plane. However, none are in as bad shape as Lexie, who is crushed under a piece of the plane. While Meredith searches for Shepherd, Yang and Sloan try to move the debris off Lexie. Eventually, the two realize that they cannot save her, so Sloan holds her hand while she dies, telling her that he loves her. As Sloan tells her of the life the two were meant to have together, Lexie dies with a smile on her face just as Meredith and Yang are approaching.

tag: p

text: Lexie's death devastates Meredith, who is still desperately trying to find her husband. Eventually, she and Shepherd reunite and they fix his hand as best as they can. Meanwhile, back at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, no one is aware of what has happened to the other doctors. Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) prepares the annual dinner for the departing residents, which Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), Dr. Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams), and Dr. April Kepner (Sarah Drew) are dreading. Avery makes the choice to take a job offer at Tulane Medical Center, and he and Kepner share a moment. Dr. Ben Warren (Jason George) and Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) decide to get married, even though Warren is going to start his surgical internship in Los Angeles. After realizing Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) was offered a chief position at United States Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) and is refusing to leave Seattle out of loyalty, Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), the chief of surgery, fires her to free her from the hospital where her husband died. As the episode ends, Hunt picks up his messages to discover the surgical team never made it to Boise. The residents, finally excited to celebrate at Webber's dinner, are left waiting for their stranded friends. The remaining crash survivors are left struggling to stay awake as their last match goes out. In the closing monologue, Meredith repeats the opening to the speech that Webber gave in the pilot episode of the series.

text: Production[edit]

text:
"It was so hard. It was physically and emotionally challenging because you're constantly at extremely high stakes. The physicality for Cristina, she had to do a lot of things with one arm, and I had to do a lot of things with one shoe. You're running around the mountain with one shoe and one arm basically and doing things that way. And it's like we've had this cushy time on stages and in the hospital. But being out in the open on the side of a mountain was exhilarating; you cannot beat location work. I've done very little greenscreen work, but it's just a pooper. I don't care how much you blow that fan on my face, there's not a helicopter coming at me. It's really hard to manufacture the clear reality of what that is, but when you are on a mountain and you are freezing, you're freezing."

— Oh's impressions on shooting in the mountains[1]

tag: div

text: The episode was written by Shonda Rhimes, and directed by Rob Corn.[2] Featured music included The Paper Kites' "Featherstone" and Feist's 'Graveyard".[3] Filming took place in Big Bear Lake, California, a location previously used in the seventh season for Yang and Shepherd's fishing trip.[4] Commenting on the filming conditions, Leigh said: "It would rain and be sunny and hot. I never died before [on camera]. That sounds funny saying that. I think everyone has an emotional wellspring and that happened to be a moment where I was sprung. Everybody was very accommodating — the crew, cast. And I opted to stay underneath [the wreckage] for the most part over two days rather than trying to get in and out."[5]

text: In regard to the episode, Rhimes commented before it originally aired that it was difficult to write, largely because of the death of a main character. She compared it to writing the season six finale, by explaining that the former was "more painful" to write.[6] After the episode aired, Rhimes repeated in a tweet that it was hard for her to write the finale, adding: "I did not enjoy it. It made me sick and it made me sad."[7] Rhimes also explained the departure of Leigh, whose character died after the plane crash, by saying that the two came to an agreement on the decision to kill Lexie, after extensive discussion. Speaking of Raver's departure whose character left Seattle Grace for MEDCOM, Rhimes elaborated that Raver was offered a contract renewal, but declined.[7]

text: Reception[edit]

text: The episode received mixed reviews among television critics, and it outperformed the previous episode in terms of both viewership and ratings. "Flight" was originally broadcast on May 17, 2012 in the United States on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The episode was watched in the United States by a total of 11.44 million people,[8] a 16.5% (1.62 million) increase from the previous episode "Migration", which garnered 9.82 million viewers.[9] In terms of viewership, "Flight" ranked fourth for the night, behind the season finales of Fox's American Idol, and CBS's Person of Interest and The Mentalist.[8] In terms of Grey's Anatomy's other season finales, the episode was the show's second least-viewed finale, just behind the seventh season's, which garnered 9.89 million viewers.[10] The episode did not rank in the top three for viewership, but its 4.1/11 Nielsen rating ranked first in its 9:00 Eastern time-slot and second for the night, registering the show as Thursday's No. 1 drama, for both the rating and share percentages of the key 18–49 demographic. Its rating lost to American Idol, but beat out CBS's The Big Bang Theory, Person of Interest, and The Mentalist.[8] In addition to its rating being in the top rankings for the night, it was an increase from the previous episode, which netted a 3.5/10 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic.[9] The episode also showed an increase in ratings in comparison to the previous year's finale, which attained a 3.6/9 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic.[10]

text: Poptimal's Tanya Lane wrote, "Wow…just wow. Grey's Anatomy has once again managed to shock with its season finale." While she appreciated the "realism and authenticity that Grey's is known for", she found the episode was "almost too much" as it was "extremely gory and difficult to watch, initially because of the grisly wounds" but later because of the "heavy and emotional things that transpired". She thought Pompeo gave one of her best performances when her character learned that her sister was dead.[11] Digital Spy's Ben Lee found Leigh's and Dane's performances "phenomenal" and added that he had probably never seen a better performance from Dane. He described the moment the two actors shared as "truly poignant". To him, Lexie's death felt like a finale, which was thus too early. As for what was happening in Seattle Grace, he thought it was "a bit pointless" and "uninteresting" except Altman's departure, which he deemed "the most significant moment at the hospital".[12] Entertainment Weekly's Tanner Stransky commented of Lexie's death: "It was an intense death. I mean, how awful was it to watch one of Grey’s longest-running characters pass away so quickly -- and rather unceremoniously? I get that Ms. Rhimes had to do what she had to do -- and every show needs to be shaken up once in a while -- but I don't love that Lexie was the one to die. Could it have been someone less important somehow? I guess it would have been too obvious to do Kepner. And you probably just don't kill off a hottie like Mark Sloan, right?" Stransky also complained about Robbins' screams at the beginning of the episode, but enjoyed Bailey's story.[13]

text: In an Entertainment Weekly poll that judged all the television season finales of the year, Lexie's death was voted the "Top Tissue Moment",[14] while Robbins' injured leg and Shepherd's mangled hand were voted the "Most Disturbing Image".[15] The ending of the episode was also considered as the "Best Ending to an Otherwise So-So Season".[16] Lexie's death was also nominated under the "Best (Presumed) Death" category,[17] while the plane crash's aftermath was nominated as the "Best Non-romantic Cliffhanger",[18] and the episode in entirety was nominated for the special award for "Biggest Regret That I Didn't See It, I Just Heard or Read About It".[19] Entertainment Weekly later named the scene where Meredith is crying one of the best crying scenes of 2012.[20] In TVLine's review of 2012, Lexie's death was runner-up for "Biggest Tearjerker".[21] The episode is nominated at the NAACP Image Awards under the Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series category for Rhimes.[22]


document_title: Hops

question_text: where do they grow hops in the us

question_tokens: where do they grow hops in the us

text: Hops

text: History[edit]

text: The first documented hop cultivation was in 736, in the Hallertau region of present-day Germany,[7] although the first mention of the use of hops in brewing in that country was 1079.[8] However, in a will of Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne, hop gardens were left to the Cloister of Saint-Denis in 768. Not until the 13th century did hops begin to start threatening the use of gruit for flavouring. Gruit was used when taxes were levied by the nobility on hops. Whichever was taxed made the brewer then quickly switch to the other. In Britain, hopped beer was first imported from Holland around 1400, yet hops were condemned as late as 1519 as a "wicked and pernicious weed".[9] In 1471, Norwich, England, banned use of the plant in the brewing of ale ("beer" was the name for fermented malt liquors bittered with hops; only in recent times are the words often used as synonyms).

text: In Germany, using hops was also a religious and political choice in the early 16th century. There was no tax on hops to be paid on the Catholic church, unlike on gruit, for which the Protestant preferred hopped beer.[10]

text: Hops used in England were imported from France, Holland and Germany with import duty paid for those; it was not until 1524 that hops were first grown in the southeast of England (Kent) when they were introduced as an agricultural crop by Dutch farmers. Therefore, in the hop industry there are many words which originally were Dutch words (see oast house). Hops were then grown as far north as Aberdeen, near breweries for infrastructure convenience.

text: According to Thomas Tusser's 1557 Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry:

text:
"The hop for his profit I thus do exalt,
It strengtheneth drink and it flavoureth malt;
And being well-brewed long kept it will last,
And drawing abide, if ye draw not too fast."[11]

text: In England there were many complaints over the quality of imported hops, the sacks of which were often contaminated by stalks, sand or straw to increase their weight. As a result, in 1603, King James I approved an Act of Parliament banning the practice by which "the Subjects of this Realm have been of late years abused &c. to the Value of £20,000 yearly, besides the Danger of their Healths".[12]

text: Hop cultivation was begun in the present-day United States in 1629 by English and Dutch farmers.[13] Before prohibition, cultivation was mainly centred around New York, California, Oregon, and Washington state. Problems with powdery mildew and downy mildew devastated New York's production by the 1920s, and California only produces hops on a small scale.[14]

text: Hop bars were used before modern machinery was invented to make the holes for the hop poles.[15]

text: World production[edit]

text: Hops production is concentrated in moist temperate climates, with much of the world's production occurring near the 48th parallel north. Hop plants prefer the same soils as potatoes and the leading potato-growing states in the United States are also major hops-producing areas;[16] however, not all potato-growing areas can produce good hops naturally: soils in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, for example, lack the boron that hops prefer.[16] Historically, hops were not grown in Ireland, but were imported from England. In 1752 more than 500 tons of English hops were imported through Dublin alone.[17]

text: Important production centres today are the Hallertau in Germany (more hop-growing area than any other country as of 2006),[18] the Yakima (Washington) and Willamette (Oregon) valleys, and western Canyon County, Idaho (including the communities of Parma, Wilder, Greenleaf, and Notus).[19] The principal production centres in the UK are in Kent (which produces Kent Goldings hops), Herefordshire, and Worcestershire.[20][21] Essentially all of the harvested hops are used in beer making.

text:
Hop producing country
2012 hop output in tonnes (t)[22]

Germany
34,434

United States
27,782

China
11,000

Czech Republic
4,338

Poland
2,206

North Korea
2,000

Albania
1,650

United Kingdom
1,650

Slovenia
1,338

tag: table

text: Cultivation and harvest[edit]

text: Although hops are grown in most of the continental United States and Canada,[23] cultivation of hops for commercial production requires a particular environment. As hops are a climbing plant, they are trained to grow up trellises made from strings or wires that support the plants and allow them significantly greater growth with the same sunlight profile. In this way, energy that would have been required to build structural cells is also freed for crop growth.[24][citation needed]

text: The hop plant's reproduction method is that male and female flowers develop on separate plants, although occasionally a fertile individual will develop which contains both male and female flowers.[25] Because pollinated seeds are undesirable for brewing beer, only female plants are grown in hop fields, thus preventing pollination. Female plants are propagated vegetatively, and male plants are culled if plants are grown from seeds.[26]

text: Hop plants are planted in rows about 2 to 2.5 metres (7 to 8 ft) apart. Each spring, the roots send forth new bines that are started up strings from the ground to an overhead trellis. The cones grow high on the bine, and in the past, these cones were picked by hand. Harvesting of hops became much more efficient with the invention of the mechanical hops separator, patented by Emil Clemens Horst in 1909.

text: Harvest comes near the end of summer when the bines are pulled down and the flowers are taken to a hop house or oast house for drying. Hop houses are two-story buildings, of which the upper story has a slatted floor covered with burlap. Here the flowers are poured out and raked even. A heating unit on the lower floor is used to dry the hops. When dry, the hops are moved to a press, a sturdy box with a plunger. Two long pieces of burlap are laid into the hop press at right angles, the hops are poured in and compressed into bales.

text: Hop cones contain different oils, such as lupulin, a yellowish, waxy substance, an oleoresin, that imparts flavour and aroma to beer.[27] Lupulin contains lupulone and humulone, which possess antibiotic properties, suppressing bacterial growth favoring brewer's yeast to grow. After lupulin has been extracted in the brewing process the papery cones are discarded.

text: Migrant labor and social impact[edit]

text: The need for massed labor at harvest time meant hop-growing had a big social impact. Around the world, the labor-intensive harvesting work involved large numbers of migrant workers who would travel for the annual hop harvest. Whole families would partake and live in hoppers' huts, with even the smallest children helping in the fields.[28][29] The final chapters of W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage and a large part of George Orwell's A Clergyman's Daughter contain a vivid description of London families participating in this annual hops harvest. In England, many of those picking hops in Kent were from eastern areas of London. This provided a break from urban conditions that was spent in the countryside. People also came from Birmingham and other Midlands cities to pick hops in the Malvern area of Worcestershire. Some photographs have been preserved.[30]

text: Particularly in Kent, because of a shortage of small-denomination coin of the realm, many growers issued their own currency to those doing the labor. In some cases, the coins issued were adorned with fanciful hops images, making them quite beautiful.[31]

text: In the US, Prohibition had a major impact on hops productions, but remnants of this significant industry in West and Northwest US are still noticeable in the form of old hop kilns that survive throughout Sonoma County, among others. Florian Dauenhauer, of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, became a manufacturer of hop-harvesting machines in 1940, in part because of the hop industry's importance to the county. This mechanization helped destroy the local industry by enabling large-scale mechanized production, which moved to larger farms in other areas.[32] Dauenhauer Manufacturing remains a current producer of hop harvesting machines.

text: Chemical composition[edit]

text: In addition to water, cellulose, and various proteins, the chemical composition of hops consists of compounds important for imparting character to beer.[2][33]

text: Alpha acids[edit]

text: Probably the most important chemical compound within hops are the alpha acids or humulones. During wort boiling, the humulones are thermally isomerized into iso-alpha acids or isohumulones, which are responsible for the bitter taste of beer.[34]

text: Beta acids[edit]

text: Hops contain beta acids or lupulones sensitive to oxidative decomposition which may be detrimental to the taste of beer. For this reason, beta acids are considered a negative factor in brewing and many brewers usually choose hops with a low beta acid content.[34]

text: Essential oils[edit]

text: The main components of hops essential oils are terpene hydrocarbons consisting of myrcene, humulene and caryophyllene.[33] Myrcene is responsible for the pungent smell of fresh hops. Humulene and its oxidative reaction products may give beer its prominent hop aroma. Together, myrcene, humulene, and caryophyllene represent 80 to 90% of the total hops essential oil.[33]

text: Flavonoids[edit]

text: Xanthohumol is the principal flavonoid in hops. The other well-studied prenylflavonoids are 8-prenylnaringenin and isoxanthohumol. Xanthohumol is under basic research for its potential properties, while 8-prenylnaringenin is a potent phytoestrogen.[35][36]

text: Brewing[edit]

text: Hops are usually dried in an oast house before they are used in the brewing process.[37] Undried or "wet" hops are sometimes (since ca.1990) used.[38][39]

text: The wort (sugar-rich liquid produced from malt) is boiled with hops before it is cooled down and yeast is added, to start fermentation.

text: The effect of hops on the finished beer varies by type and use, though there are two main hop types: bittering and aroma.[2] Bittering hops have higher concentrations of alpha acids, and are responsible for the large majority of the bitter flavour of a beer. European (so-called "noble") hops typically average 5–9% alpha acids by weight (AABW), and the newer American cultivars typically range from 8–19% AABW. Aroma hops usually have a lower concentration of alpha acids (~5%) and are the primary contributors of hop aroma and (nonbitter) flavour. Bittering hops are boiled for a longer period of time, typically 60–90 minutes, to maximize the isomerization of the alpha acids. They often have inferior aromatic properties, as the aromatic compounds evaporate off during the boil.

text: The degree of bitterness imparted by hops depends on the degree to which alpha acids are isomerized during the boil, and the impact of a given amount of hops is specified in International Bitterness Units. Unboiled hops are only mildly bitter. On the other hand, the nonbitter flavour and aroma of hops come from the essential oils, which evaporate during the boil.

text: Aroma hops are typically added to the wort later to prevent the evaporation of the essential oils, to impart "hop taste" (if during the final 30 minutes of boil) or "hop aroma" (if during the final 10 minutes, or less, of boil). Aroma hops are often added after the wort has cooled and while the beer ferments, a technique known as "dry hopping", which contributes to the hop aroma. Farnesene is a major component in some hops.[2] The composition of hop essential oils can differ between varieties and between years in the same variety, having a significant influence on flavour and aroma.[2]

text: Today, a substantial amount of "dual-use" hops are used, as well. These have high concentrations of alpha acids and good aromatic properties. These can be added to the boil at any time, depending on the desired effect.[40] Hop acids also contribute to and stabilize the foam qualities of beer.[2]

text: Flavours and aromas are described appreciatively using terms which include "grassy", "floral", "citrus", "spicy", "piney", "lemony", "grapefruit", and "earthy".[2][41] Many pale lagers have fairly low hop influence, while lagers marketed as Pilsener or brewed in the Czech Republic may have noticeable noble hop aroma. Certain ales (particularly the highly hopped style known as India Pale Ale, or IPA) can have high levels of hop bitterness.

text: Brewers may use software tools to control the bittering levels in the boil and adjust recipes to account for a change in the hop bill or seasonal variations in the crop that may lead to the need to compensate for a difference in alpha acid contribution. Data may be shared with other brewers via BeerXML allowing the reproduction of a recipe allowing for differences in hop availability.

text: Varieties[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Breeding programs[edit]

text: There are many different varieties of hops used in brewing today. Historically, hops varieties were identified by geography (such as Hallertau, Spalt, and Tettnang from Germany), by the farmer who is recognized as first cultivating them (such as Goldings or Fuggles from England), or by their growing habit (e. g., Oregon Cluster).[42][citation needed]

text: Around 1900, a number of institutions began to experiment with breeding specific hop varieties. The breeding program at Wye College in Wye, Kent was started in 1904 and rose to prominence through the work of Prof. E. S. Salmon. Salmon released Brewer's Gold and Brewer's Favorite for commercial cultivation in 1934, and went on to release more than two dozen new cultivars before his death in 1959. Brewer's Gold has become the ancestor of the bulk of new hop releases around the world since its release.[43]

text: Wye College continued its breeding program and again received attention in the 1970s, when Dr. Ray A. Neve released Wye Target, Wye Challenger, Wye Northdown, Wye Saxon and Wye Yeoman. More recently, Wye College and its successor institution Wye Hops Ltd., have focused on breeding the first dwarf hop varieties, which are easier to pick by machine and far more economical to grow.[44] Wye College have also been responsible for breeding hop varieties that will grow with only 12 hours of daily light for the South African hop farmers. Wye College was closed in 2009 but the legacy of their hop breeding programs, particularly that of the dwarf varieties, is continuing as already the U.S.A. private and public breeding programs are using their stock material.

text: Particular hop varieties are associated with beer regions and styles, for example pale lagers are usually brewed with European (often German, Polish or Czech) noble hop varieties such as Saaz, Hallertau and Strissel Spalt. British ales use hop varieties such as Fuggles, Goldings and W.G.V. North American beers often use Cascade hops, Columbus hops, Centennial hops, Willamette, Amarillo hops and about forty more varieties as the U.S.A. have lately been the more significant breeders of new hop varieties, including dwarf hop varieties.

text: Hops from New Zealand, such as Pacific Gem, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin, are used in a "Pacific Pale Ale" style of beer with increasing production in 2014.[45][citation needed]

text: Noble hops[edit]

text: The term "noble hops" traditionally refers to varieties of hops which are low in bitterness and high in aroma. They are the European cultivars or races Hallertau, Tettnanger, Spalt, and Saaz.[46]

text: Their low relative bitterness but strong aroma are often distinguishing characteristics of European-style lagers, such as Pilsener, Dunkel, and Oktoberfest/Märzen. In beer, they are considered aroma hops (as opposed to bittering hops); see Pilsner Urquell as a classic example of the Bohemian Pilsener style, which showcases noble hops.

text: As with grapes, the location where hops are grown affects the hops' characteristics. Much as Dortmunder beer may within the EU be labelled "Dortmunder" only if it has been brewed in Dortmund, noble hops may officially be considered "noble" only if they were grown in the areas for which the hop varieties (races) were named.

text:
Hallertau or Hallertauer – The original German lager hop; named after Hallertau or Holledau region in central Bavaria. Due to susceptibility to crop disease, it was largely replaced by Hersbrucker in the 1970s and 1980s. (Alpha acid 3.5–5.5% / beta acid 3–4%)
Žatec (Saaz) – Noble hop, named after Žatec town, used extensively in Bohemia to flavour pale Czech lagers such as Pilsner Urquell. Soft aroma and bitterness. (Alpha acid 3–4.5% /Beta acid 3–4.5%)
Spalt – Traditional German noble hop from the Spalter region south of Nuremberg. With a delicate, spicy aroma. (Alpha acid 4–5% / beta acid 4–5%)
Tettnang – Comes from Tettnang, a small town in southern Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The region produces significant quantities of hops, and ships them to breweries throughout the world. Noble German dual-use hop used in European pale lagers, sometimes with Hallertau. Soft bitterness. (Alpha acid 3.5–5.5% / beta acid 3.5–5.5%)

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text: English noble varieties are Fuggle, East Kent Goldings and Goldings. They are characterized through analysis as having an alpha:beta ratio of 1:1, low alpha-acid levels (2–5%) with a low cohumulone content, low myrcene in the hop oil, high humulene in the oil, a ratio of humulene:caryophyllene above three, and poor storability resulting in them being more prone to oxidation. In reality, this means they have a relatively consistent bittering potential as they age, due to beta-acid oxidation, and a flavour that improves as they age during periods of poor storage.[47]

text: Other uses[edit]

text: In addition to beer, hops are used in herbal teas and in soft drinks. These soft drinks include Julmust (a carbonated beverage similar to soda that is popular in Sweden during December), Malta (a Latin American soft drink) and kvass.[citation needed] Hops can be eaten, the young shoots of the bine are edible and can be cooked similar to asparagus.[48][49]

text: Hops may be used in herbal medicine in a way similar to valerian, as a treatment for anxiety, restlessness, and insomnia.[50] A pillow filled with hops is a popular folk remedy for sleeplessness, and animal research has shown a sedative effect.[51] The relaxing effect of hops may be due, in part, to the specific degradation product from alpha acids, 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol, as demonstrated from nighttime consumption of non-alcoholic beer.[51][52] 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol is structurally similar to tert-amyl alcohol which was historically used as an anesthetic. Hops tend to be unstable when exposed to light or air and lose their potency after a few months' storage.

text: Hops are of interest for hormone replacement therapy and are under basic research for potential relief of menstruation-related problems.[53]

text: In preliminary veterinary research, hops compounds are under study for potential activity against pasture-associated laminitis in horses.[54]

text: Toxicity[edit]

text: Dermatitis sometimes results from harvesting hops. Although few cases require medical treatment, an estimated 3% of the workers suffer some type of skin lesions on the face, hands, and legs.[55] Hops are toxic to dogs.[56]