[worldKit-dev] Actionscript 2.0, Flash Player 7

[Mikel Maron]

I've embarked on a refactor of worldKit into ActionScript 2.0.
There's a variety of reasons to do this long long overdue refactor. 

Most crucially, the open source flash compilation tools require 2.0 (check out osflash.org for more info).
2.0 supports OOP natively. So the tortured syntax of 1.0 OOP (all that prototype &*#$) will be out. 
And the code will be more accessible to a broader group of programmers.

Most of the conversion to 2.0 is straightforward change of syntax. 
However, this is also a good chance to iron out some tangled patterns that have developed over time; 
so some things are changing more than others.


Actionscript 2.0 can be compiled to target Flash Player 6, as worldKit current is.
I'm thinking of changing this to Flash Player 7, since there are some features in 7 that would be wise to utilize.

For instance, I'm refactoring the image loading code now. This currently uses Intervals to check on the progress of the image load, and when fully loaded it runs some post-processing. Flash Player 7 wisely provides a builtin loader and callback mechanism (the MovieClipLoader class).

The latest penetration stats [http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer/version_penetration.html] have Flash Player 7 installs just a few percentage points short of Player 6. Flash Player 7 was released almost 2.5 years ago. And the Flash Player is about the easiest piece of software to update and install. 

Seems to me like a pretty safe move.


But, maybe there's other opinions? Please speak if there's something more to consider here.

Mikel