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Adobe has released a public preview of ActionScript 3.0, which will be part of Flash 9. This follows the release of Flash Player 9, which will support AS3 features. At a glance this release seems to reinforce the evolution of Flash and ActionScript into a serious application development. Runtime types, non-dynamic classes and runtime exceptions brings AS3 in line with regular programming languages and hopefully simplifying the process of debugging Flash. In the past, grown programmers have been known to break down and cry at the thought of figuring out what is wrong with a complex Flash app. Perhaps now they will only sigh deeply.
The real reason for these changes is that run-time types and non-dynamic classes give a major performance boost. Flash Player 9 contains a new ActionScript virtual machine, the AVM2. This VM is expected to boost Flash performance up to 10-fold, to a point where the VM can run complex applications at reasonable speeds.
And guess what: Flash now has a revolutionary new primitive type: The “int”. The fact that this was missing in the first place is mind-boggling. My apologies if this sounds snide, but I remember wondering why Macromedia didn’t “professionalize” ActionScript over 4 years ago. Ok, so AS2 had OOP but it felt like a kludge and the willy-nilly handling of pointers made you cringe.
More good news: There are indications (see overview, search for “DisplayList”) that AS3 will ditch the MovieClip class in favor of more logical DisplayList and Shape classes, as well as doing away with the hopelessly outdated layer system for deciding depth of objects.
The recent developments are good, but my suspicion is that they will still fall short of making Flash a real application environment without relying on obscure tricks and guru knowledge. I understand the desire to keep Flash accessible to non-hardcore coders, but surely it would be possible to make the language scaleable without sacrificing consistency.
Don’t get me wrong, Flash is invaluable as a platform for rich media content that can actually be seen by the majority of Internet users. And this new version is inching towards a better Flash world. But if Adobe allows Flash to continue the “fix a kludge with a kludge” tradition that has always plagued Director, they’ll eventually have to scrap the whole platform and build something new from scratch. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
Links:
- Flash Professional 9 ActionScript 3.0 Preview
- Adobe: ActionScript 3.0 Overview
- ActionScript 3.0 Cheatsheet
(Via Create Digital Motion)
Yeah, having to upgrade to get integers is pretty mind-boggling. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one. But it does seem to be on the right track for the most part, finally. I’m just worried that Adobe is going to get too into Flex and not enough into Flash. And having to constantly re-learn the thing is not likely to get users excited. Let’s hope AS3 finally gets it right, and the AS gurus aren’t talking about how cool AS4 will be by September.