Learning ActionScript 3.0

I guess this is answer questions week. I seem to be writing a series of posts (more coming) written to address questions from multiple emails or conference appearances. This has to do with AS4/ECMA 4. If you frequent any of the blogs, forums, lists, or other sources for current Flash info, this post will not contain any new information. However, if you’re new to AS3 and have come to this site by way of our book, you will probably be reassured to know that Flash CS4 still uses ActionScript 3.

Flash CS4 does introduce some new classes and ActionScript features, but these are consistent with minor language updates that accompany most new authoring tool versions. Here’s a short round up of links that Mike Chambers put together and the new CS4/AS3 docs.

ActionScript 3.0 will likely remain the primary scripting language of the Flash Platform for at least another 18 months, if not longer. (This is assumed because Adobe tends to release product upgrades approximately every 18 months). Furthermore, if the next version of Flash (or another Flash Platform app, such as Flex) introduces ActionScript 4, it will likely be an expansion of AS3. That is, AS3 is probably the last major language rewrite for quite some time, so now is a great time to invest in learning ActionScript 3.

On a loosely related note (and, again, nothing new for the community-aware), the recent rejection of the ECMA 4 proposal will likely have little impact on ActionScript. Here’s a bit more on the subject, also from Mr. Chambers.