[Edu-sig] Great OOP tutorial [OT]

[Jason Cunliffe]

Hi Kirby
Thanks for your comments.

"Kirby Urner" <urnerk@qwest.net> wrote
> http://www.debreuil.com/docs/ch01_Intro.htm
..
> Thanks Jason.  I've been exploring Flash 5 recently and
> the tutorial was useful, although I'm somewhat surprised
> it doesn't also use Flash movies to teach OO.

Yes I agree. There are other some tutorials out there that do some.
http://www.moock.org/
http://www.moock.org/webdesign/flash/
http://www.moock.org/asdg/codedepot/

It would be very nice to see a good intro to OOP suitable for Python done in
Flash graphics for example. Robin Debreuil's  goal was really how do to use
OOP to roll your own Flash.

Robin Debreuil & co  are the people who are increasingly by passing Flash's
normal design interface. They are busy virtualizing the entire thing in
code. It a bloody process, but I hpe the longer term results will go way
beyond Macromedia empire and FLash as we know it.. Thye've come along way in
the past year. 2002 is going to be very intense as they same people build
and fuse event models, engines and socket servers of their own to override
the default model as far as they can go.

http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/flashcoders-wiki/http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/~
bhall/code/xmlnitro.as
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/ack/eventengine.php

http://www.moock.org/unity/
http://www.natzke.com/

The deeper it goes, the more impressive is the effort, and the gerater the
need/shame that Python is not there instead/also. It is facinating to see
how Flash has developed and a vibrant openSource alter-ego. That seesm to be
the real meme these days.

.. meanwhile the player gets pushed onto more commercial devices:
http://www.flashenabled.com/mobile/

which further motivates the alter-ego. A interesting case in point is the
Sharp Zaurus, a linux based PDA [with micro keyboard].
http://developer.sharpsec.com/

It's a bold experiment to see how the openSource community can rise to the
occasion. Trolltech have announced a comptetion as their QT windowing system
runs on it. Qt has Python wrappers btw.
http://www.thekompany.com/projects/pykde/

PDAs are cool I think ecause while still overpriced vanity gizmos, they are
now teetering on the verge of greater embeded yechnolgy, and hopefully true
usefullness ;-)

At this juncture they reverse the trend for massively icnrasing RAM and isk
pace which has egniifled softawer design. PDAs truly reward great software
engineering: minimalism, footprint, portability, reusability, etc. And GUIs
are the big test.

There has been much topical debate on Flashcoders and elswewhere recently
about compexity of OOP vs. real need vs. real use. Why OOP? Why build these
big abstract constructs? Sometimes they seem to to take people further and
furterh away from what hey aer really [originally] trying to do. they becom
grails/goals +  means in themselves. The answer seems to be that GUIs are
where they are needed  - the payoff.

PythonCard - an contracting abtraction on top of an expanding abstraction.
wxPython is massively generalized and meta-verbose. PythonCard steps up to
bat and tries to make it more useful again by offering focus and
simpification by understanding better the context in which these things are
actually used.

> Some of my very early forays:
> http://www.inetarena.com/~pdx4d/ocn/flash/reciprocal.html
> http://www.inetarena.com/~pdx4d/ocn/flash/group.html
> http://www.inetarena.com/~pdx4d/ocn/flash/sumtotients.html

Very nice. There was great space PBS series on TV years ago that used
dynamic typography and presentation of equations like that. It covered
Netwon's laws of motion etc.

> In any case, I agree with you that Flash potentially
> provides a useful into to OO with immediate feedback/
> applications.  The downside is it's far from free (unlike
> Python) and the OO model is somewhat more complicated
> I think (Python's is actually more sophisticated, but
> conceals enough to make the basics easier -- or maybe
> I'm just biased, being new to the Flash paradigm).

Absolutely. I wish--wish there were a fgeat opensource Flash-like tool.
Which could use scripting langauge of choice [Python, PHP, Javascript, REBOL
..]I think there will be. But I fear not very soon..

One can presently generate Flash SWF by raw scripting using MING
[PHP, Python apis]
http://opaque.net/ming/

And make-swf is a new one for REBOL :)
http://sweb.cz/oliva.david/swf/

ASV is a famous tool for viewing Actionscript inside SF's for which one does
not have the source .FLA
http://www.buraks.com/asv/9.html

flasm is a command line assembler/disassembler of flash actionscript
bytecode:
http://flasm.sourceforge.net/


> The hardest parts of the tutorial are the special add-on
> functions the author has to introduce to make the Flash
> language itself a little easier to use i.e. he's using
> the language to complete the language (admittedly, lots
> of successful languages do this).

Yes true. I read that Robin is trying to improve those sections. There is
forum about it and others have encouraged clarification there. I think it is
partly a problem of explaining these things, partly that Actionscript has
many flaws and is very young. Many have criticized Macromedia's programmers
for not being open, rigorous or lucid enough. Others say it is mainly they
are isolated by Macromedia marketing wonks brand of techno-politics. These
critiques are naturally further strong arguments for why openSource, Python
etc.

./Jason


______________________________________________
Jason Cunliffe [NOMADICS: Director art+design]
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