The hype framework, Joshua Daves & Branden Hall

If you’re like me, the task of learning Flash and ActionScript 3.0 from scratch is pretty daunting. I keep hearing about how amazing Actionscript 3.0 is, but so far it’s novelties have alluded me. In fact I’ve been trying to turn my hand to Processing as a result. The coding seems to make a lot more sense to a mere mortal like myself. Thankfully Flash gods Joshua Davies and Branden Hall have launched ‘Hype‘. Feeling like a complete idiot isn’t a feeling I have particularly enjoyed whilst learning Flash but the timely release of HYPE has been launched with people like me in mind:

In the beginning the most innovative works were created by designers, artists and other non-developers. These people created the “hype” that made Flash rise above, way above, any similar technologies – but today these enthusiasts are becoming an endangered species.

Flash has matured incredibly in the past decade, but it has done so in a way that has blocked non-developers from even getting started. The simple fact of the matter is that with older versions of Flash you could learn the tool and how to program ActionScript almost entirely through creative play. With the latest iterations, unless you have a background in object-oriented programming, that method of learning by doing is simply not an option.

According to Davies & Hall HYPE is a coding network built ‘on top’ of ActionScrpt 3.0 to enable newcomers to Flash and ActionScript to creatively play with coding whilst learning to program. Designers can get on with designing whilst HYPE deals with the complex stuff behind the scenes.

To get started, the user needs only the most basic knowledge of programming – variables, conditionals, loops, and functions, for example.

As the user learns more about programming they can extend HYPE and thus grow their skills, while at the same time inspiring the next generation.

Other Flash tutorial sites that I’ll be looking at include:

active.tutsplus.com/ – Created by the folks at Envato, I’ve always found the tutorials from these networks pretty easy to follow and relevant to effects/functions I want to achieve.

www.computerarts.co.uk/ – As a subscriber to Computer Arts, I always marvel at what’s being produced in the big wide world. Every month they feature various tutorials for various creative programs. The flash tutorials, although a bit ‘cut and paste’ are structured in a way that means you can follow, step by step, how an effect is achieved. The tutorials and source files are also free to download from the computer arts website.

My playful experiments will be posted in due course.