AS 3.0 vs AS 2.0

The point I was trying to make Hermis is that if you want to do simple things there are basic/almost copy and paste solutions to those problems that you don't even really have to wrap your head around.

I have taught non-programmers how to program, and I find that the biggest problem is the initial fear of something being so alien. Finding something people can latch onto and then building upon it is key, so as I've suggested before, if you have something you want to do in AS3.0 ask and I'm sure you can get an answer that will at least get you started.

Honestly, give us an example of something basic that you previously wanted to teach, and I'm sure we can give you the solution in AS3, and probably some hints on how to go about explaining it.

my bad, its ROLL_OVER not MOUSE_OVER

why would you need an external file to add a rollover effect?

if the thing you wanted to manipulate was named "object"

object.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, mouseHandler)

function mouseHandler(e:MouseEvent):void {
//tell the system what to do here when a mouse over occurs.
}

I guess it comes down to your definition of "complex", I'm not trying to say that its different from AS2 but seeing as this is their first attempt at object oriented they are lacking a great deal of helpfull stuff.

For instance there seems to be no direct connection between objects on the stage and objects in the code during write time. for instance if you named a button on your stage "btn" and then typed btn in actionscript the system has no idea that btn is an object of type button and does not display all of its methods and events etc. So your forced to search their not so awesome library of classes for what you are looking for, and the documentation could use a few examples and perhaps a little more in-depth description.

However thats not the point. The point is that most if not all serious programming languages are moving towards object oriented programming, so being angry about it isn't going to make it go away. If your unhappy that they removed all this innate ability to do stuff without code this seems like a bad place to put your concerns as this is a programming forum. Moreover did it occur to you that they might be putting that stuff back in, in the future. It could be that redoing the entire language and making it work with any sort of stability took a great deal of their time (you have to realise that all those easy non-programmer tools are basically generating that code behind the scenes for you, so the programming stuff has to be there first)

I'm not sure what you are looking for out of this, and it certainly doesn't help the person's initial question which is "should I learn AS2 or AS3".

I think you should learn AS3 by the way ;)

"a external file containing many many lines of codes, two or tree functions, etc ,etc. THis is far from a few click."

This is not true whatsoever. The same amount of coding if it was AS2. You do not need an external AS file, you can code right on the timeline. All you need is one function. There is no 'etc, etc'. That is it.

myBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER, myFunction);
function myFunction(event:MouseEvent):void{
// do something
}

This is real simple. The first line is adding a listener to the button, so that whenever the mouse rolls over the button, it will trigger "myFunction", which you can put any name there you want. After that is the function declaration, enclosing what should happen when that button has the mouse roll over it. Very simple. You are blowing this way out of proportion.

heh, actionscript was always a programming language, the reason it probably has migrated to Object Oriented is because most languages are going that way these days.

Hermis is in some way correct that it is unfortunately more difficult to learn and or teach, because object oriented programming isn't quite as quick or easy to wrap your head around.

I cannot speak for AS2 or AS1 as I have never used them (I started with Flash CS3) I did not find learning basic AS3 to be too bad. Most things have simliar standard ways of performing actions. So once you learn something you can apply it to almost anything.

The bottom line as far as I see it is that this isn't just actionscript that is going the way of object oriented, so to take the time and effort to learn a language that eventually will not be supported, and more than likely than not has less functionality, seems a bit silly.

For the short term, learning AS2 will probably be easier for you, and allow you to get done what you need to do. However in the long term learning AS3 will take only moderately more work, but you wont have to start from scratch when AS2 is no longer an available option.

Just my opinion.

My advice: if you know how to program in C++ or Java, go for actionscript3. Otherwise, stick with actionscript 2, it is still accessible to designers and artists like me (maybe you). Adobe has sold Flash to programmers since ActionScript 3, sorry guys (and girls), now we can only do Photoshop. Programmers on one side, artist on the other side, no more in middle multimedia creators. All this because, one day, Adobe gave the reponsability of ergonomics, pedagogical aspects and ease of use to...a gang of programmers, with the total pedagogical disaster we face with Flex and actionScript 3. Thanks Adobe, you just killed all the fun. Let's talk classes now, and forget about cool texts effect. Just browse the Flash forum topics, you'll understant what I mean when I say Flash has sold its soul to programmers. But hey, I understand them to get jalous. They had to work months to code a simple stupid tetris game in C++. While us, artists, we were doing fun FLash games (not always well programmed, but still playable). This had to stop, we where having too much fun. We were getting dangerous (OHH, these pseudo programmers could jeopardize the whole web with their unsecure codes !!) we had to stop them. The way to convice everyone to sell Flash to programmers ? the same way they do for soo much stuff these day: fear. This is unsecure, badlly and slow. We have to make FLash a lot more robust, like C++. They had ALL THE OTHER options (c++, c#, PHP, XML, JAVAscript, Ajax, DHTML. But that wasn't enought. Our Flash was sooo fun. They had to have it too, and make it works for their needs, their skills. VOILA, now its yours guys. And me, I'll have a look at other alternative, as Adobe does't have a clue about a thing called :ease of use. As a multimedia teacher, I will also look at some alternative to FLash, because, in my opinion, actionscript 3 is almost impossible to teach to web designers artist. Finally, don't tell me things like (oh, don't worry, you can still program in actionscipt 2). Yes, that is true. I can also still program in Javascript et HTML, or go back to my TR80. THis is not comforting position. It is like saing : you can't be part of the party anymore. However, you can still have a beer on the porch. Thanks Adobe, you killed the Multimedia and all the fun we had to program cool rollovers and clip effects.

Also, it depends on what you plan on doing with AS. For instance, if you are using AS to animate movieclips in a banner ad that will be served on another site, chances are you will not be allowed to supply any SWFs for Flash Player versions above 7. If that's the case, you'll have to stick to AS 2.0.

This is a very debatable topic, however, I would say just learn AS3.