Well, there are several pieces. ActionScript is a language. It is really only
the dozen classes or so in the “top-level” in the ASDoc. String, int, RegEx,
Array, Vector, a few functions like unescape, etc, plus a bunch of keywords and
stuff like “var”, “class”, plus a grammar of how you put it all together. It
hasn’t changed much in years, other than the addition of Vector. There are no
plans to improve on its specification by adding things it is missing compared
to other languages like Java such as method overloading, or mutiple
inheritance. Instead, Adobe is tossing out the whole specification and
developing a next-generation of ActionScript. It will have some of the same
things you see in the current ActionScript, but there will be new keywords and
grammar. The goal is to give up on backward compatibility in order to get
significant speed improvements by making the language easier to execute at
runtime.
ActionScript currently only runs in a Virtual Machine embedded in the
FlashPlayer or AIR. Both runtimes provide additional APIs that allow you to
draw stuff and get network i/o, etc. The current APIs use ActionScript 3
syntax and are focused primarily on Sprites, Shapes and MovieClips on a display
list. New features were added in every major release.
Now, Adobe is working on embedding a new Virtual Machine that runs the
next-generation ActionScript in the FlashPlayer and AIR. The focus is on
gaming, and a new set of APIs that talk to a 3d rendering engine is being
devloped in the next-generation ActionScript syntax. There will be no support
for the old Sprites/Shapes/MovieClips and display list.
However, the old virtual machine that runs ActionScript 3 will continue to be
embedded in the FlashPlayer and AIR that run on tradtional desktops/laptops. I
would not expect it to be co-existent on mobile versions of AIR because the new
focus is on the captive runtime workflow where you pre-process your
ActionScript code and the runtime libraries into a device-dependent executable.
So, given all of that, you can continue to deliver ActionScript 3 content in
AIR or FlashPlayer on desktops/laptops “forever”. And unless you have heard
otherwise from the PDF team, they probably won’t eliminate support for Flash in
PDF on desktop/laptops soon.
I think Apache Flex exists because folks have found the Flex workflow easy and
productive and also safe because it uses structured programming, and former
Flex customers are now pitching in to continue to evolve Flex as much as we can
given the constraints of the current environment. The problem for many is
that, because Adobe is not evolving the ActionScript 3 language, VM and runtime
APIs related to it, folks see it as a dead end and no longer want to develop
apps on it. I can see their point, but there is a reason why DOS is still
around on some custom handheld devices: it works, it is well known, and has a
small footprint for a constrained environment. Flash/AIR and Flex on
ActionScript3 continue to be excellent ways to create apps quickly, but it has
been difficult to convince customers to stick with it.
Anyway, so far, the most interest in Apache Flex seems to be around trying to
leverage the Flex workflow to create apps that run on the HTML/CSS/JS stack
(without Flash). It will have growing pains for sure, but to me, a question
about CPU load is premature. There is 1000’s of people from all over the world
working on improving the runtime environment for HTML/CSS/JS. They have made
significant advances in the past several years and I don’t see a cap on it. So
any pain points you experience now are likely to be solved in the near future.
If you can continue to use Flash/AIR and let others suffer through the growing
pains, consider yourself lucky. Otherwise, put on some pads and join the
battle.
On 12/19/12 9:29 AM, John McCormack j...@easypeasy.co.uk wrote:
Thank you again.
Although ActionScript is not being developed for the FlashPlayer, is it
possible that it may still be developed separately for use in AIR? I could
deliver content through AIR instead of PDFs.
My problem is that the FlashBuilder / Flash Professional workflow is such a
seductive one, with that easy marriage of graphics and code, that I don't want
to lose it. I have used C++ to produce graphical programs and the AS3 route is
a godsend in comparison.
One wonders Is HMTL5 going to use any less CPU cycles than AS3, once it is
doing similar work?
John
On 18/12/2012 05:38, Alex Harui wrote:
Re: [flexcoders] Re: Flex alternatives Things get lost in translation, but
one goal of the parallel frameworks is to not leverage things that get lost in
translation. Otherwise, since JS and AS are ECMA-based, the translation works
pretty well.
Keep in mind that, while Adobe is no longer investing in ActionScript 3 on the
Flash Player, and not developing Flash Player for mobile devices, and AIR may
not run on all
