Adobe has just announced the release of Creative Suite 5.5, which includes many new and improved features and enhancements for the Flash platform. Below is a series of videos highlighting some of the new features the updated suite has to offer.
Introduction to Flash Catalyst CS5.5
What’s New in Flash Builder 4.5
Sneak Peek of Mobile Application Development with Flex and Flash Builder
Personally, I am pretty excited for what the new suite updates have to offer, and am looking forward to developing with the new tools. What are your thoughts on the new suite? Will the new features improve your current workflow or give you more incentive to develop for iOS and Android using the Flash Platform? Let me know what you think.
Hello all,
I, along with a handful of other classmates, was recently interviewed by Pat Peckham from The City Pages. The interview focused on aspects of our WDMD major at school with respect to our Flash and interactive portion of the program. I was very happy and appreciative of the interview and the time Pat took to hear us talk. Following that, I put together some screenshots of the Molotov iScream (iPhone, Android), and a game I worked on over a year ago with Jeff Nehlsen and Joe Motacek called Nanobot Extreme.
As always, it’s a privilege and honor to be part of an awesome program at UWSP, and even better that our local community is curious about the things we do.
I felt like it would be a good opportunity to share the screenshots with you. Enjoy and leave some comments!
ActionScript 3.0, like most robust languages, come fully loaded to perform basic arithmetic functions. The symbols used for arithmetic operators should be recognizable and familiar to those learned in grade school. Here are the arithmetic operators in ActionScript 3.0:
| Operator | Definition |
|---|---|
| + | Addition |
| - | Subtraction |
| * | Multiplication |
| / | Division |
| % | Modulo |
A unique feature with arithmetic operators is that they require two operands, specifically one before the operator and one after the operator. For example, with the statement 4 + 6, the first operand is the number 4, the operator is the addition operator, and the second operand is the number 6. No matter how complex the mathematical formula, the formula can still be reduced to two operands before the final equation is calculated. These types of operators are called binary operators.
Here’s an example of basic usage in ActionScript 3.0
So… if some of you read my last post on releasing the Molotov iScream to Android, you may have been wondering where the iPhone/iPod touch version of the app was. As of a few minutes ago, I just got the approval message from the iTunes store for the app to go live!
Much like the Android version, the Molotov iScream for iPhone and iPod Touch comes with the following features:
Features:
Click the image to view the Molotov iScream demo
The app can be purchased via desktops and laptops here or point your device here.
ActionScript 3.0, like many other programming languages, contains a number of basic data types commonly known as primitives. ActionScript 3.0 contains five primitive data types, which is far less than other languages like .NET or Java.
|
Data Type |
Function |
|
String |
A character or series of characters |
|
Boolean |
A value that is either true or false |
|
int |
Positive or negative whole numbers |
|
uint |
Positive whole numbers |
|
Number |
Positive and negative whole and real numbers |
Strings
Strings are a very important data type in programming languages that support them. For instance, string value can represent a sentence, a phrase, a word, a letter, or a directory location in an application, all of which are vital to many applications developed.
In the above example, when the value of String str is traced, the output will read This is a string.
Booleans
Booleans are a great way to evaluate whether a statement in code is true or not. A developer can program an application to do something whether or not a statement is true. For example:
The above code will set the Boolean value to false because the value of five is not greater than 6. After that, the second if statement checks to see whether or not the Boolean’s value is set to true or false. Seeing that the Boolean is false, it will return the trace statement in the else statement.
Integers, Unsigned Integers, and Numbers
Flash comes equipped with a small set of numeric data types that allow the flexibility for almost any developer. If a variable needs to store positive whole numbers, then one would use an unsigned integer to store the values. For whole numbers that are positive and negative, using an integer or Number would be ideal. The difference between integers and Numbers is that Numbers can also store real number values whereas integers only store whole numbers. Also, Number data types can store a headache inducing amount of data compared to integers and unsigned integers. Here’s a breakdown of numeric data type values in Flash
|
Data Type |
Minimum Value |
Maximum Value |
|
integer |
-2,147,483,648 |
2,147,483,647 |
|
unsigned integer |
0 |
4,294,967,295 |
|
Number |
4.9406564584124654e-324 |
1.79769313486231e+308 |
As you can see, Numbers are great for not only storing real numbers, but also for REALLY HUGE values. Remember, when programming, choose the numeric data type that’s the most ideal for the situation. For example, if you plan on storing numeric whole number values (positive or negative) that aren’t going to contain decimals, then you’re probably best off using integers. Any time decimals or real numbers in general are involved, use Numbers. When you are developing any type of application or animation, you have to keep system resources in mind to the best of your ability. By doing so, this ensures optimal performance on most computers.
As always, source code is available here.
