Comments on: Why ActionScript 3.0?

By: Angel

Angel — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:38:54 +0000

I agree this topic should be long gone buried off somewhere, but it seems to resurface itself from very often.

By: Daniel Freeman

Daniel Freeman — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:50:33 +0000

I’m amazed to find your blog, and others discussing the merits, or otherwise of AS3! I only came across this because I was looking for opinions on the more pertinent argument Flex or Pure ActionScript (3). (When your text mentioned the monster… I first assumed you meant Flex and its bloated classes.)

AS2 was a mistake. Adobe(Macromedia) should have gone straight to AS3 (and delayed Flash 8 – which should have been a bit better anyway)… Hang on, that years ago!! So why on earth is this debate raging? Why on earth would anyone stick with AS2? – unless you’re dealing with legacy code, or creating Flash Lite applications (and soon Flash Lite will support AS3).

By: Angel

Angel — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:36:08 +0000

Well said…I don’t believe it will change as the structure is now in place and any new version would simply add onto what is already there. (Let’s Hope) Only time will tell; until then AS3 it is.

By: Natasha

Natasha — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:15:11 +0000

I moved to AS3 and have never looked back. After one day of scratching my head, I found it better, faster, easier in every way. Writing anything again in AS2 would be a trip back to the dark ages.

> Instead, it turned out to be a hanging sweater casting a monstrous shadow.

I would disagree, in the sense that no shadow is actually being cast at all. AS2 was the monster and AS3 was a huge relief.

Isn’t it incredible that some people will go to all the trouble learning something like Flash and AS2, and yet when the language is upgraded they are overwhelmed by the prospect of spending a day learning the differences.

Adobe, stop paying attention to these people. They’re holding the rest of us back. Those of us whose lives and careers depend on your products, don’t appreciate being having AS4 delayed. To my horror, I was listening Chet Haase and James Ward of Adobe on The Java Posse podcast. Here’s what one of them said in response to a question about Actionscript:

INTERVIEWER: “is there a new version of Actionscript in the works?”

ADOBE: “The language of Actionscript isn’t changing very quickly and that’s by design. We don’t want to change the language.”

All I can say is, if Adobe don’t want to give us what we need, then roll on someone else who does. More competition please! If Adobe isn’t listening to developers, then bring on someone who will.

By: Angel

Angel — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:44:34 +0000

Building something larger than a banner is where you will see the advantages of AS3 versus AS2. It is easy see that! But hey you are entitled to your opinion. What cons are you proposing that comes with AS3?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:16:53 +0000

You’re kidding right? You might want to say *why* it has more cons rather than being ignorant about it. Build something larger than a banner, and get back to me.