I think Adobe is rather missing a trick in not having a stand-alone
version
of Actionscript.
Really? AS3 is really just an environment-specific implementation of
the latest JS specifications, along with class libraries that make
sense in Flash Player. I don't think it really brings anything to the
table that I can't get in C# or Java in other environments.
Yes, you're right, but in the context of someone wanting to learn AS3 as
a
primary goal not general programming, such things aren't such an issue.
I think you've been spoiled by your CS background, where you learned
how to program before you learned how to solve domain-specific
problems.
I have interpreted the original question as "Do I need to learn language
X
to become an AS3 programmer" and the answer is most definitely "No".
I didn't interpret the original question the same way, but if I had,
I'd agree with you.
There's no harm (and much to be gained) in learning subsequent languages
once the principle concepts are grasped with the first language. What is
a
mistake is to try and learn two new languages at the same time and it
would
also be misleading to say that learning another language is a
prerequisite for
learning AS3.
I'm not sure I agree with this. I think it can be useful to learn two
languages simultaneously, and see the separation between
language-specific syntax and algorithms, etc. But we can agree to
disagree on this.
You mention concurrency and that is something Adobe needs to address (I'm
sure it won't be easy to make the Flash infrastructure thread safe) and
we
both know that it will improve performance greatly in the player where
there
are multiple cores available. I'm sure it will also swell the posting on
flashcoders!
I mentioned concurrency as an example, but there are lots of other
examples I could have used instead.
Currently it's necessary for developers to know Actionscript for Flash
and
Flex plus something else for server interaction. I'd rather see the
second
language being useful to allow people to complete their pipeline to the
server than be a language that may not suit that well. It's also
important
in these economic climes, that the effort put in suits the market demand
for
expertise. It's unfortunate in some ways that Adobe haven't pushed the
boat
a little further with a good server-side actionscript implementation to
make
that access to data even easier.
C# and Python are perfectly good languages for building web
applications, though. PHP, on the other hand, isn't good for building
anything but web applications. Plus, in my own opinion at least, C#
and Python have more internal consistency in their design than PHP
does - PHP is more a product of accretion than design, if you know
what I mean.
I'm not sure a server-side ActionScript implementation makes much
sense from a business perspective, with all the very capable, mature,
and commonly-used web application environments that already exist.
A lot of people want to learn Actionscript and I'd rather they didn't
think
that they had to learn another language to do so, or mistakenly attempt
to
take on two new languages as an entry to programming at the same time.
Well, that's all true if you want to learn ActionScript. But many
people presumably want to learn AS in order to build web applications,
which potentially involve all sorts of moving parts - AS, HTML and JS
on the client, some application server in the middle, SQL on the
database.
Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software
http://www.figleaf.com/
Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized
instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta,
Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location.
Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information!
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