[Info]Introduction To ActionScript[Resources]

[Hassan]

What is ActionScript:

The ActionScript scripting language lets you add complex interactivity, playback control, and data display to your Adobe Flash application. You can add ActionScript in the authoring environment by using the Actions panel, Script window, or an external editor. ActionScript follows its own rules of syntax, reserved keywords, and lets you use variables to store and retrieve information. ActionScript includes a large library of built-in classes that let you create objects to perform many useful tasks.

ActionScript lets you create powerful 2D games and much more interactive content with extensive libraries and graphical tools. You don’t need to understand every ActionScript element to begin scripting. If you have a clear goal, you can start building scripts with very simple actions.

ActionScript Versions:

Flash includes more than one version of ActionScript to meet the needs of different kinds of developers and playback hardware.

ActionScript 3.0 executes extremely fast. This version requires somewhat more familiarity with object-oriented programming concepts than the other ActionScript versions. ActionScript 3.0 offers better XML processing, an improved event model, and an improved architecture for working with onscreen elements. FLA files that use ActionScript 3.0 cannot include earlier versions of ActionScript.

ActionScript 2.0 is simpler to learn than ActionScript 3.0. Although Flash Player runs compiled ActionScript 2.0 code slower than compiled ActionScript 3.0 code, ActionScript 2.0 is still useful for many kinds of projects that are not computationally intensive; for example, more design-oriented content.

ActionScript 1.0 is the simplest form of ActionScript, and is still used by some versions of the Flash Lite Player. ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0 can coexist in the same FLA file.

Flash Lite 2.x ActionScript is a subset of ActionScript 2.0 that is supported by Flash Lite 2.x running on mobile phones and devices.
Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript is a subset of ActionScript 1.0 that is supported by Flash Lite 1.x running on mobile phones and devices.

Resources For Learning ActionScript:
Here are some resources that you'll find useful when learning ActionScript;

Blogs:

• ActionScript Architect (Paul Spitzer)
• Actionscrip*****m
• The Algorithmist (Jim Armstrong)
• Todd Anderson
• Aral Balkan
• Bit-101 (Keith Peters)
• Brajeshwar Oinam
• Lee Brimelow
• ByteArray (Thimbault Imbert)
• Mike Chambers
• Martijn de Visser
• Brendan Dawes
• John Dowdell
• Mike Downey
• [draw.logic] (Ryan Christensen)
• Josh Dura
• Joa Ebert
• Peter Elst
• Lee Felarca
• FlashGuru (Guy Watson)
• FlashComGuru (Stefan Richter)
• John Grden
• H1DD3N.R350URC3 (Sascha)
• Kevin Hoyt
• Den Ivanov
• Seb Lee-Delisle
• Jobe Makar
• André Michelle
• Colin Moock
• Paul Ortchanian
• Sam Robbins
• Ted Patrick
• Polygonal Labs (Michael Baczynski)
• Quasimondo (Mario Klingemann)
• Darron Schall
• Senocular (Trevor McCauley)
• Sephiroth (Alessandro Crugnola)
• Grant Skinner
• Geoff Stearns
• Tink (Stephen Downs)
• Carlos Ulloa
• Unit Zero One (Ralph Hauwert)
• Tinic Uro
• Jesse Warden

Forums:

• ActionScript 3 Tip of the Day
• ActionScrip*****m
• ActionScript.org

Books:

• ActionScript 3.0 Bible—Roger Braunstein, Mims H. Wright, and Joshua J. Noble (Wiley)
• ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook—Joey Lott, Darren Schall, Keith Peters (O’Reilly)
• ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques—William Sanders and Chandima Cumaranatunge (O’Reilly)
• Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design Patterns—Joey Lott and Danny Patterson (Adobe Press)
• Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move!—Keith Peters (Friends of ED)
• Essential ActionScript 3.0—Colin Moock (O’Reilly)
• Object-Oriented ActionScript 3.0—Todd Yard, Peter Elst, Sas Jacobs (Friends of ED)

Video Training:

Video training is good way to get started for some because it teaches by actual demonstration rather than descriptive text. Here are a couple of great resources with materials related to Flash and ActionScript.

• gotoAndLearn()
• Lynd*****m

Conferences:

• Adobe MAX
• Flash in the Can
• Flash on the Beach
• Flashbelt
• FlashForward

Libraries:

While using a pre-created library of code is not typically common for beginner users, it’s very helpful to know that these libraries exist as you begin work on new projects. Sometimes, it’s worth investing a little time learning how to use a script library rather than reinventing the wheel. Libraries, when used in combination with knowing how to write your own scripts, can be powerful development assets.

Collections:

• Google Code (AS3 category search)
• ActionScript 3 Libraries (Adobe corelib, eBay, FlexUnit, Flickr, Mappr, Syndication Library, Odeo, YouTube)
• Hexagon (see Games)
• OsFlash (open source Flash portal)

3D:

• ASCOLLADA (reading Collada files)
• Away3D
• Papervision3D
• Sandy

Games:

• APE (ActionScript Physics Engine)
• as3cards (playing cards)
• as3ds (Data Structure for Game Developers)
• Hexagon (collection)
• MechEye (collection)
• WiiFlash (Windows only)

Media:

• Animated GIF player and encoder
• as3soundeditorlib
• Popforge (audio synthesis, image processing, cubicVR)

Tweening:

• Animation Package
• AS3 Animation System v. 2.0
• asinmotion
• Go
• Tween Lite, TweenFilterLite
• Tweener

Data/File Exchange:

• Alive PDF (PDF generation)
• as3awss3lib (Amazon S3)
• As3Crypto (cryptography)
• asSQL (SQL access without middleware)
• ASZip (Zip compression)
• FZip (Zip decompression)
• JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
• Lightweight Remoting
• SWX (SWF-based data exchange)

Maps:

• MapQuest

Social Networking:

• Digg
• Facebook

General Learning Tutorials:

ActionScript Tutorials
Macromedia Flash Actionscripting Tutorials - Tutorialized

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I hope you will find this useful. If you need any help with Flash or ActionScript, feel free to ask.

Regards,
Hassan

[mookamoka3]

Thanks for this. Hopefully people read this, and bring the activity level from 1 person to 4 or maybe even 5!

Glad somebodies active here though. I have a question for a game im making... ill post a thread soon.

[Hassan]

Thanks for this. Hopefully people read this, and bring the activity level from 1 person to 4 or maybe even 5!

Glad somebodies active here though. I have a question for a game im making... ill post a thread soon.

. Go for it. I'll be glad to help. Plus, I am writing extensive tutorials, so stay tuned :P

@mookamoka3

[mookamoka3]

. Go for it. I'll be glad to help. Plus, I am writing extensive tutorials, so stay tuned :P

@mookamoka3

Alright thanks !