moockblog http://www.moock.org/blog/ en-us 2008-04-18T19:35:50-05:00 Flash Player Socket Connections Now Require a Policy File http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000275.html In April 2008, Adobe imposed new security restrictions on socket connections made by Flash Player. Starting with Flash Player 9.0.124.0, all socket connections made to a server require authorization via a socket policy file. For a general introduction to the issue of mandatory socket policy files, see Unity technote 00005. For full, gory coverage of the security changes made in Flash Player 9.0.124.0, including their motivation and required action, see... ActionScript moock 2008-04-18T19:35:50-05:00 public bug database for flash player http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000274.html Think you've found a legitimate bug in Flash Player? You now have a public place to report it: Adobe's new bug-tracking database for Flash Player. Beyond its usefulness as a feedback channel for developers, the bugbase should be a nice resource to check when researching known Flash Player issues and their workarounds. Bugbase users can also voice support for fixes to existing bugs, which will help Adobe prioritize their engineering... flash moock 2008-04-15T07:40:32-05:00 fitc toronto 08 in one month http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000273.html there is just under a month left until fitc toronto, one of the Flash industry's premier events. this year I'll be talking about the new features planned for the next version of ActionScript (i.e., features in ECMAScript 4). my lecture notes are already available online. if you are interested in attending, you can register here. (get 10% off with this discount code: moock55) as usual, there's a great list of... events moock 2008-03-26T21:23:10-05:00 flex builder 3 now free for students http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000271.html just thought i'd help spread the word that Flex Builder 3 is now free for students and faculty of eligible educational institutions. >> students: get your free flex builder here (Flex Builder 3 is a code editor and visual layout tool for making Flash applications using either pure ActionScript or MXML.)... flex builder moock 2008-03-24T19:07:36-05:00 New Flash Apps: Aviary, Hobnox Audio http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000270.html Now that Adobe's new desktop runtime AIR has been released, the Flash industry is eagerly waiting for the first real killer AIR app. At least one potential contender comes from a company in New York called Aviary. Aviary is making a suite of graphics tools with some very interesting interactions for generating designs. German mad scientist Mario Klingeman is producing one of the tools, known as Peacock. Peacock dynamically produces... ActionScript moock 2008-03-07T21:28:05-05:00 XFL: Flash's New Source Format http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000269.html I recently met with Flash authoring product-manager, Richard Galvan, to talk about Diesel, the next version of Flash (i.e., Flash CS4, or version 10 for those counting). Adobe has already demonstrated a bunch of high-impact features for Diesel, including inverse kinematics, a new tweening model, 3D "postcards in space", and advanced text components (see MAX 07 keynote, FOTB 07 keynote, and FITC Amsterdam 08 keynote). But Richard was keen to... flash moock 2008-03-06T11:39:54-05:00 Upcoming Lecture: ActionScript 4.0?? http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000268.html Last fall, the working group responsible for designing the next version of ECMAScript released an overview of proposed features for ECMAScript 4. ActionScript is based on ECMAScript, so the hypothetical ActionScript 4.0 will undoubtedly support some, if not all, of the proposed features. In February and April (in Amsterdam and Toronto, respectively), I'll be doing a lecture at FITC covering the ECMAScript 4 features that will theoretically be added to... events moock 2008-02-16T18:45:42-05:00 munich ActionScript 3.0 training: spots still available http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000267.html i'll be in munich, germany on february 20 doing a free all-day seminar on object-oriented programming with ActionScript 3.0. apparently there are lots of spots still available, so if you're anywhere near munich and want to learn ActionScript 3.0, drop on by! >> register for ActionScript 3.0 training in munich (i'll also be doing the seminar in amsterdam on feb 27, and london on march 3, but those venues are... ActionScript moock 2008-02-09T20:02:36-05:00 Francis Cheng's New Blog http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000266.html Adobe engineer-turned-technical writer, Francis Cheng, recently started a blog about ECMAScript 4 and ActionScript. Francis was one of my main contacts during the writing of Essential ActionScript 3.0 (he responded to 334 of my emails during the book's writing!). Francis sits on the ECMAScript 4 committee, and was one of the authors of the ActionScript 3.0 language specification. His new blog already has some great posts about proposed ECMAScript 4... ActionScript moock 2008-02-08T01:34:49-05:00 ActionScript 3.0: Is It Hard or Not? http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000264.html In parts of the Flash community, ActionScript 3.0 seems to have gained a reputation for being "hard"—particularly among those who have not yet tried the new language. Is the reputation warranted? To find out, read my article at O'Reilly's new InsideRIA.com... (there's a good discussion happening in the comments after the article too. contributions welcome!)... ActionScript moock 2008-01-23T22:54:04-05:00 chicago ActionScript 3.0 training: spots still available http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000262.html [UPDATE: The spots filled up. Registration is now closed. Next stops: Munich, Amsterdam, and London...] i've just learned that registration for the chicago stop on my actionscript 3.0 training tour has been re-opened. apparently some new spots have opened up. the event is on december 3rd, 2007. >> get details and register at www.adobeas3tour.com hope to see you there!... flash moock 2007-11-27T22:24:53-05:00 want to try ECMAScript 4? http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000261.html if you just can't wait for ECMAScript 4 (aka the next version of ActionScript and JavaScript) to be implemented in Flash Player and Web browsers, you can already experiment with it today using the ECMAScript 4 Reference Implementation. the Reference Implementation is actually very easy to set up and use. to get started with it, watch John Resig's short video explaining basics of installation, and compiling and running programs. >>... ActionScript moock 2007-11-10T17:48:35-05:00 the politics of javascript/actionscript's future http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000260.html is the future of ECMAScript 4 (i.e., javascript and actionscript) based on technical or political considerations? judging by the recent exchange on the es4-discuss mailing list, there's a good helping of both. if you have some (well, a lot of) time on your hands, and you're curious to see some not-so-internal debate on the future of ECMAScript 4 between Microsoft, Yahoo!, Adobe, Mozilla, Opera, "and others," start here: >> read... ActionScript moock 2007-11-09T19:44:31-05:00 ECMAScript 4 overview posted http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000259.html The ECMAScript working group (TC39-TG1) has recently released a great document describing what they hope to include in ECMAScript 4. ECMAScript is the standard upon which ActionScript and JavaScript are based. The theoretical next version of ActionScript (ActionScript 4.0) would be based on ECMAScript 4. The working group is aiming to complete the ECMAScript 4 specification by October 2008. >> read the ECMAScript 4 overview (pdf) more info on ECMAScript... ActionScript moock 2007-10-23T19:27:45-05:00 FDT 3.0 now shipping http://www.moock.org/blog/archives/000258.html for over a year, adobe's Flex Builder has been pretty much the only ActionScript 3.0 development tool available. that changes today with the release of powerflasher's FDT 3.0. >> view FDT 3.0 website like Flex Builder, FDT is based on Eclipse, so there is some natural similarity between the tools for pure ActionScript projects. some of FDT 3.0's features are definitely also on the wishlist for Flex Builder--things like a... ActionScript moock 2007-10-16T01:50:10-05:00