Boy has there been a lot of buzz around Colin Moock's article lately. Its quite interesting to read the very outspoken comments as well. Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about it and now its time for me to chime in.

When someone like Colin, the guy who wrote the AS3 book, writes something like this its certainly going to make some waves. At first you might think, "Gosh Colin, you're the definitive guy to ask AS3 questions to yet you're complaining about it. What gives?". But Colin is not speaking for himself, and he points that out very promptly. He's really speaking for all the people he has come in contact with who are trying to learn AS3, and its fair to assume thats probably a ridiculous amount compared to your average Flash user.

At first I thought to myself, "Whats the big freakin' deal with trying to learn AS3?".  For me, it wasn't all that difficult to get into. I picked it up relatively quickly upon playing with it for a few days. Why was it so easy? I could be wrong, but my guess is because I'm comfortable reading the provided documentation (I can understand it) and have a good understanding of object oriented programming practices. I also have the luxury of having the time to learn new things (and realize not everyone else does).

Then I started thinking about what it was like for me to learn ActionScript 2 (luckily I avoided the TellTarget days). I can remember making things work, but never really understanding why they worked. I copied and pasted a lot of code from forums and sites. The more I spent time looking at the code the more I started understanding it. I was able to spend a lot of time with the code because that was my job, to make Flash content. Soon I moved away from the on(release) syntax and started putting code on the timeline because it was easier to find (sort of). That of course forced you into using this.onRelease = function(). That sort of made sense at the time, but I sort of always knew that there had to be a more "logical" way. In the mean time, I started to formulate methods of doing common things, such as making a navigation set, moving from scene to scene, etc. I rolled them all by hand using the simplest API's available in AS2. And they worked! But I knew people were doing it in a "better" way.

So this is where I stopped (thinking about how I got into ActionSript 2). This is where it seems most of the people Colin is talking stopped with their interest in programming (not Flash itself). My guess is that their jobs, the projects, or just their own ambition never brought them beyond this point. For me, my jobs have always forced me into learning new stuff or being resourceful enough to translate a designer's idea. The more I read the more I coded the closer I got to understanding object oriented programming and being able to program using OOP concepts. But again, not everyone gets to that point in this industry. Flash was, and still is, easy to make simple, interactive/rich content without going crazy with code.

So now ActionScript 3 and Flash Player 9 are here. And yes, its a total pain in the ass  to have to deal with a new syntax and start hearing all these crazy programming terms tossed around. Its totally intimidating and not necessarily a welcoming thing to anyone who isn't interested in getting more into programming . Especially when you've been using a product for so long and have had success with the old way of doing things. But the days of simple Flash content are over. And if you're still using those old methods, you're probably not using the Flash Player to its utmost. Luckily you can still use ActionScript 2.

But its time. Its time to make the leap! Flash needs to go this direction if it's going to stick around as a viable web technology. And I must say to all the old schoolers, I'm sorry, you're gonna have to find the time to learn if you want to take advantage of the new features. Its just the nature of technology (the beast). When enough people use it and push its boundaries, performance limitations, etc, Adobe is going to make advancements. Unfortunately, major advancement sometimes takes a major restructuring. The future of the platform depends on these advancements and I welcome any and all changes Adobe makes.

I hope I'm not coming off as an elitist, because I certainly make every effort to teach people how to use ActionScript 3 at my job. And I would do so with anyone else that wanted the help. The more people that know how to use it, the better. I also agree with some of the comments that have been made about making it easier to add interactivity using JSFL panels 'n what not. Although it should be intuitive and use correct coding techniques. I wish I had the time to devote to something like that (I don't know JSFL), but instead, in effort to spread the love, I'm going to post some code in my next entry that will hopefully make it easier for all you oldschoolers to get into ActionScript 3. I definitely feel as if there isn't enough community support for this sort of stuff. I think my first item of business will be how to turn a MovieClip into a button and fix that parent problem.