Chapter List

What is ActionScript?

ActionScript makes it possible to develop Flash movies that are interactive. A designer can build a beautiful Flash movie without ActionScript, but it won't be able to respond to input by the user. In the earliest versions of Flash, there was no ActionScript. In those days, Flash was used exclusively to make linear animations. Its unique ability to render vector-based animations made Flash an instant hit. When ActionScript was introduced, however, the focus of Flash development became "interactivity". Today, Flash is the de facto standard tool for creating media-rich interactive Web applications. Because of its efficient design, it is also becoming a popular development platform for handheld devices including mobile phones.

ActionScript is a powerful tool because of all the ways it can be used, but in the simplest sense, ActionScript is text: program code in the form of letters, numbers, symbols, etc.:

<b class="bold">for</b> (i=0; i<5; i++) {  <b class="bold">for</b> (j=0; j<5; j++) {    <b class="bold">var</b> x_coord = i * (size + 5);    <b class="bold">var</b> y_coord = j * (size + 5);    tempSquare = mySquare(x_coord, y_coord, size);  }}

Graphics are often created by drawing with a mouse. ActionScript programs are created by typing text with a keyboard, and...