I've been too busy to weigh in on this in a timely fashion, and I see that the list has moved on. But, even if just to give the Director engineers a well-deserved pat on the back (IMHO), I'd like to add something here.
I know Alex gave us a personal opinion, and it may be true that if you know Lingo you may not switch to JavaScript syntax. The performance hit is certainly something to consider. But, for me, it's not about switching from Lingo to JavaScript, or from Flash to Director. I advocate the "best tool for the job" approach. Instead, it means a lot to me that Director can support JavaScript. I teach in both commercial and academic environments in New York, to students with a very wide range of established skill sets/experience. There has always been a measure of resistance to Director because of its learning curve. It has frequently been a part of my job to point out the incredible array of features that Director has as a reason to step up to the plate. Offering a standard language to start off with is enormously helpful. By learning JavaScript first, my students can manipulate basic web pages, move on to DHTML, and embrace a host of other tools and processes ranging from Flash, to Anark, to Director, to AfterEffects Expressions to Photoshop Actions, (and peripherally to things like Processing and other tools that may not be based strictly on JavaScript but share the same syntaxical structure), and finally to many more doors that have recently been opened. This laudable move to a standard syntax/approach -- even with application-specific properties, methods, event handlers, etc. (which all of the above have) is among the things I value the most in my role as a teacher. This is especially true in a time when we can't even get browsers to behave the same way using JavaScript. Even if it just means that Director will welcome a larger future audience of users that can learn quicker, and adapt more easily from using other tools, it means that Director's future is that much brighter. And that typically translates into better features, support, etc., for those of us who have been using it since it was called VideoWorks. We all know there are faults to be found but I, for one, am very, very happy about JavaScript integration. I remember sitting in the sneak at the last UCON (1999? 2000? -- I think it was circa D6 because I was doing a lecture/workshop introducing behaviors) when an enthusiastic Director engineer showed the use of JavaScript within Director. Excited, I felt like I was the only one in a packed audience that even gave a damn. I was so surprised and the engineer doing the demo was visibly crushed. (I can't recall who it was.) So, I hereby express my gratitude, on behalf of myself and many future students, that the ability exists to translate skills/experience from other JavaScript efforts into learning Director. > From: Alex da Franca <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 20:11:39 +0200 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: <lingo-l> Flash components: mouseUp and mouseUp Outside > > translating lingo into javascript doesn't help much, IMHO. > it is not the language difference between lingo > and AS, which make me stick to director, I just > don't know flash that well and do not know the > keywords and functionality of flash that well, > rtegardless, if they resemble lingo, javascript > or C, if I would dig into flash, it would be the > easiest part. I don't care if I have to learn: > 'movieclip.tell.something()' or 'tell something > to movieclip' I'd have to learn both of them in > the first place. > > of course that is just my personal opinion. > > I wouldn't complain, if hundreds of thousands of > flash users would rather switch to director > because of javascript syntax, than because of the > coolness of IL and sw3d and the frightning > abilities it offers. > but I doubt it. [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
