looking for tutorials on Actionscript [OO] programming with FLASH CS3

Question

I am searching for tutorials that explain not only the syntax of Actionscript, but also how i use Flash CS3 for creating my projects (how to create the project, add new as files (classes), etc.).

Thanks for your help

Answer 1

there is a very nice introduction by senocular.
other than that, please go to "learn flash". you'll find about anything you need, especially in the ActionScript 3 section.

here is my personal advice:

1. if Flash CS3 is closed, skip to step 3.
   • close Flash CS3
   • are you interested in drawing or animating? if yes, skip to step 5.
   • uninstall Flash CS3 ;-)
   • download the Flex SDK and unzip into a convenient location.
   • if on Windows, install FlashDevelop, if on Mac, you may wanna try the according TextMate bundles (and TextMate if you don't have it). Other than that, I personally suggest a Windows virtualization and to get FlashDevelop to run (a friend of mine uses VMWare with windows XP on ubuntu and it works just fine). If you're willing to spend money or if you qualify for a free license, you might as well wanna check out FDT and Flex Builder. Although they are commercial tools and integrate nicely with eclipse, they are way behind FlashDevelop when it comes to coding comfort.
   • enjoy :-)

No, but seriously. Why not CS3? Well, simply because i is not targetting developers, but designers and other creative people. They compiler is slow and very sluggish. Flash CS3 promotes concepts, that are designer friendly. Its autocompletion is more then poor. It lacks the most basic shortcuts you'll find in any IDE. If tools can make you a bad programmer, than Flash CS3 is one of them (although Flash 8 and verions before were signifficantly worse). Also Flash CS3 stores a lot of information in the .fla project files, which is binary and propriatery, so it integrates very poorly with other developement tools and even version control systems.

IDEs like FlashDevelop are made for programmers. If you open FlashDevelop, it will take you no longer than 10 seconds to figure out, how to create a new project. Adding new files is just about as obvious. Not only is it simpler, but FlashDevelop will already provide you with the outer structure of the class, while Flash CS3 lets you create an empty file and write a lot of boring and redundant code again and again. Flash CS3 is a potent tool and great for drawing and design, but you shouldn't use it for programming. Many flash developers use CS3 for design and a 3rd party IDE or Flex Builder for coding.

If it is FlashDevelop you choose, then please check out the community wiki, especially "Getting started" and the section explaining how to use FlashDevelop with AS3. Also please see this great article.

greetz
back2dos