The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide

Chapter 2. Discovering What You Need to Work with ActionScript 3.0

Working with ActionScript 3.0 is an equation composed of two parts: you need something to compile a program written in the language, and you need something to display the results of that programming. In compiler territory, you have quite a few development choices. In the most basic approach, Adobe makes the Flex Software Development Kit (SDK) available to the public free of charge (http://www.adobe.com/go/flex_trial/). This SDK includes the full ActionScript 3.0 application programming interface (API), which is the full list of core and Flash Player API classes described in the ActionScript 3.0 Language and Components Reference, published on the Adobe LiveDocs website (http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AS3LCR/Flash_10.0/). In addition, the SDK includes the Flex framework (component class library) and Flex command line compiler, letting programmers freely develop and deploy Flex applications using any scripting integrated development environment (IDE). Because the Flex framework is, itself, written in ActionScript 3.0, you don’t necessarily have to learn a new language to use Flex. Without spending a dime, interested programmers can build anything from basic ActionScript 3.0 class files—which you can also write in the Script window of Flash CS4 Professional—to full-scale Flex applications that you can write with Flex Builder 3.

Displaying the results of your work requires Flash Player 9 or higher (Flash CS4 publishes to ...