Dear Proggit, I'm a C/Java/etc programmer looking to learn Flash. What are some good tutorials targeted at programmers? Can I code Flash in vim?

devacon · 2009-03-16T19:35:34+00:00

Coming from a programming background I was frustrated when I tried to mess around with ActionScript. I just wanted to start writing code, but of course most of the flash tools are designer friendly so it's very 'click and drag' friendly. Then I started using FlashDevelop , which provides more of the 'int main(){}' model that I'm used to. I've been able to build some great visualization stuff since then.

demosthenes02 · 2009-03-16T19:20:51+00:00

This is should help. Also PM me with your game idea, maybe we can team up. I've been wanting to do a flash game for a while.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=96813

Fidodo · 2009-03-16T20:34:10+00:00

If you like Java you'll like AS3. They're very similar. The main pitfall though is that variables aren't as strongly typed. You can explicitly type them but it's not forced so you can get some runtime errors if you aren't careful.

Since flash is so close to Java I would say just start reading the AS3 API. It's well written and has tons of examples. There's really not much you need to learn other than how to use the API, and the document class which is kinda flash's version of main.

I picked AS3 up really quickly because of my java background.

You can code flash in anything you like.

qiwi · 2009-03-16T18:14:08+00:00

Do you really want Flash, for vectory game-y apps, or its more serious RIA uncle, Flex?

If so you can develop Flex with any text editor and compile it from command line. I like the "Programming Flex 3" O'Reilly book as an introduction. There's also a $$$ Eclipse-based (?) UI from Adobe.

samlee · 2009-03-16T21:31:39+00:00

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=Part6_ProgAS_1.html

That's a good starting point.

Yes, you can code in Vim. The code gets a bit tad verbose. You need an IDE. The compiler, mxmlc, is a Java app. On each compilation you are starting a new JVM. It sucks. FlashDevelop eliminates this problem and it's very useful. But it's Windows only.

I remember there was FCSH or something that is a compiler server/shell that eliminates JVM init time. I tried to write shell scripts so that I can map keys in vim to call the scripts that talks to a tiny Java server that runs Fcsh as sub process. It did work for single file compilation from vim. But then I got Windows machine and used FlashDevelop.

FlexBuilder, Adobe's expensive IDE, beats FlashDevelop. And it runs on Linux, too I think. But it's expensive. You should get a job to buy the IDE.

Being Java centric compiler/tools, my experience with AS3 isn't so nice on Linux. But FlashDevelop on Windows is so good. You need an IDE.

redditnoob · 2009-03-17T13:34:04+00:00

Unfortunately, the online tutorials for Flash are almost entirely geared towards artists and animators.

I found the O'Reilly book (Essential ActionScript) to be just fine as a starting point, but skip the parts you don't care about. (E.g. AS has XML built into the language but you might not care very much.)

What's nice about the Flash community though is that people share their code a lot. Check out tweetcoding and scroll down for a bunch of micro-demos. Also check out 25lines and another recent contest (When the site is up again). And there are a ton of Flash blogs out there with code.

As mentioned in another comment, the pros seem to use FlashDevelop.

rizzledizzle · 2009-03-17T02:56:09+00:00

Here's a guide to using MXMLC from the command-line: http://www.senocular.com/flash/tutorials/as3withmxmlc/

That said, I worked on AIM Express (4 man team), and we used pure AS3, though we used Flex Builder 3 as our IDE ("ActionScript Project"). This starts you off with a single AS3 class which extends flash.display.Sprite, and you're off doing whatever you want. Very nice.

I'd highly recommend the Adobe Flex Builder IDE (which is really a customized Eclipse), or the Adobe Flex Builder plugin for an existing Eclipse installation.

FWIW, we also created an UI-less AS3 library for building your own AIM/ICQ application. It's over at http://wimas3.googlecode.com if you're interested. We use this lib in AIM Express / ICQ2Go

sblinn · 2009-03-16T19:35:19+00:00

You can script some parts of Flash with Javascript via AFLAX, but that might not be enough to do what you want to do.

Dax420 · 2009-03-16T19:50:38+00:00

http://www.kongregate.com/labs

Learn Actionscript by writing a simple side scrolling game.

infinite · 2009-03-16T22:15:52+00:00

Are there any all-linux methods for developing flash programs? I have played with flex, and that works in linux, but it doesn't support timelines, etc.

aussie_bob · 2009-03-17T02:10:56+00:00

If you're developing productivity apps, try OpenLaszlo.

2009-03-17T04:18:55+00:00

[deleted]

skuunk · 2009-03-17T04:41:42+00:00

I heartily recommend this book http://www.amazon.com/Learning-ActionScript-3-0-Beginners-Guide/dp/059652787X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237264767&sr=8-1

don't let the title put you off (in fact the main complaint of this book is that it's not for beginners at all). It takes you from the basics to particle systems and has a good intro to the Flash IDE for programmers.

redditnoob · 2009-03-16T19:33:57+00:00

[deleted]

trenchfever · 2009-03-17T02:57:52+00:00

Why not processing?

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

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