var w:uint = 550;
var h:uint = 400;
var cos:Function = Math.cos;
var sin:Function = Math.sin;
var canvas:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
parent.addChild(canvas);
var glow:GlowFilter = new GlowFilter();
var bevel:BitmapFilter = new BevelFilter();
glow.strength = .7;
glow.blurX = glow.blurY=4;
bevel.strength = .2;
glow.quality = bevel.quality = 3;
var Filters = [bevel, glow];
function init(e:Event) {
 clickme.visible = false;
 stage.quality = "LOW";
 canvas.filters = [];
 canvas.graphics.clear();
 var type:int = Math.random()*3;
 var v4:int = w/2+Math.random()*250-125;
 var v3:int = h/2+Math.random()*220-110;
 var v11:int = Math.random()*250;
 var v10:int = Math.random()*250;
 var v12:int = Math.random()*250;
 canvas.graphics.moveTo(v4, v3);
 var v5:int = Math.random()*150+10;
 var v6:uint;
 addEventListener("enterFrame", drawIt);
 function drawIt(e:Event) {
  v5 -= 1;
  if(type){
   canvas.graphics.moveTo(w/2, h/2);
  }
  if(v5>0){
   canvas.graphics.lineStyle(0, v6, Math.random()*100);
   var v8:Number = Math.random()*30-15;
   var v7:Number = Math.random()*30-15;
   var v9:Number = Math.random()*30-15;
   v11 += v8;
   v10 += v7;
   v12 += v9;
   v6 = v11 < < 16 | v10 << 8 | v12;
   canvas.graphics.beginFill(v6, Math.random()*100);
   var v2:int = Math.random()*(v5*2)-v5;
   var v1:int = Math.random()*(v5*2)-v5;
   if (v4+v2>w || v4+v2&lt;0) {
    v2 *= -1;
   }
   if (v3+v1>w || v3+v1&lt;0) {
    v1 *= -1;
   }
   (Math.random()*5>1) ? canvas.graphics.curveTo(w/2+v2, h/2+v1, v4, v3) : canvas.graphics.curveTo(v4+v2, v3+v1, v4, v3);
   v4 = w/2+cos(v5)*(v2+100);
   v3 = h/2+sin(v5)*(v1+100);
  }else{
   removeEventListener("enterFrame", drawIt);
   stage.quality = "BEST";
   glow.color = v11/4 < < 16 | v10/4 << 8 | v12/4;
   canvas.filters = Filters;
  }
 }
}
parent.addEventListener("mouseUp", init);

10 Responses to “procedural coding in AS3”

1. Paul Neave Says:
   July 13th, 2006 at 8:24 am

   I totally agree. I was brought up on a diet of procedural programming and even to this day find it hard to kick the habit and go entirely OOP loopy. Thankfully the Flash 9 preview release allows timeline code with AS3 so you can still use dirty hackery procedural code but get the AS3 speed boost as well.

2. Intoxo Pox Says:
   July 13th, 2006 at 11:23 am

   In case anyone reading this missed aral’s post, he’s informed me that a more apt name in this case may be ‘spiking’… eXtreme Programming coinage. Always neat to drop another coin in me lexicon. Thanks aral.

   Check his post out here.
   http://aralbalkan.com/662

3. Intoxo Pox Says:
   July 13th, 2006 at 11:31 am

   Paul. I confess to similar stubborn habits with respect to OOP.
   It’s funny… I was just toying around with your now ancient pac-man source about a month ago or so after finding my stab at pac-man from a good while back. I also dug your 3d flower generator thing. The internet is offly odd that way. Nice to finally meet you (sort of).

4. Julien Fondère Says:
   July 13th, 2006 at 2:00 pm

   Couldn’t agree more. I’m glad you said it.
   OOP is an incredible tool, but it doesn’t make you a better developer nor does it make your project any better. People need to stop thinking everything should be OOP… Flash is not Java!

5. John Giotta Says:
   July 13th, 2006 at 3:27 pm

   OOP is for final and robust development; its the way to go.

   However, you’re right to say OOP is overkill for exploratory coding.

6. Bjorn Schultheiss Says:
   July 23rd, 2006 at 11:01 pm

   Yeah but what happens when you want to reuse that animation in say a RIA that you’re building. Do you Ctrl+C & Ctrl+V till your fingers get sore or would you prefer to instantiate a class out of your animation library?

7. oh please so Says:
   September 3rd, 2006 at 11:13 pm

   for those of us poor bastards that have been pounding keys in oop for years suddenly as3 makes everyone a oop finatic — there is a time and a place — some kid get the idea of what a class is then wants to use it for everything — flex is totally case in point — can anyone say overdeveloped — the sdk has promise — as3 is opening a door for massively overdeveloped code

8. Richard Canfield Says:
   October 30th, 2006 at 1:07 pm

   The beautiful design effect reminds me of the german graffiti artist Daim.

   http://www.daimgallery.com

   Coincidence?

9. Don Lapre James Says:
   January 8th, 2007 at 6:14 pm

   I agree that as3 ahouldn’t be pushed aside so quickly. it may take a few to get used to but it more than lives up to the change. Anyway, everyone should live outside the box every now and again, you might actually learn something..
   Jim
   Don Lapre James
   webmaster@gidnoc.com
   http://www.gidnoc.com  

10. Colin Campbell Says:
    March 20th, 2007 at 1:18 am

    Just getting into as3 now – so far finding it quite, er… “flexible”.

    OOP – a formal method for the mandatory inheritance of bugs.
    I’ve spent far more of my working life going cock-eyed trawling through and refactoring badly designed and/or just plain wrong class-hierarchies, than debugging procedural code.

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