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I almost learned programming and OOP basic concepts with ActionScript 3 on the Flash Platform years ago. Some time has passed since then; I'm not a professional programmer, but I have written code in PHP, Fortran, and now Python. But, lately, I have missed ActionScript 3 OOP implementation, static typing and, I confess, curly braces.

As Flash platform is slowly dying nowadays, I'm looking for an Open Sourced programming language similar to ActionScript 3 (though I've found a way to use ActionScript 3, see Edit 3). I've read about Java, which is the most similar one I found, but actually is the only one it doesn't interest me (I started to hate it after bad experiences with web applets).

Any ideas?

Edit: Added EcmaScript to the title and the tags; I think that is what I am looking for.

Edit2: I read Java can be natively compiled. That would make me hate it a bit less.

Edit3: For what it's worth, Tamarin aims to be "a high-performance, open source implementation of the ActionScript™ 3 language". It's developed by Mozilla and it is being used in the Adobe® Flash® Player. Besides, redtamarin, based on Tamarin, "allow to run AS3 code on the command-line".

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"As Flash platform is slowly dying nowadays" If you say so. – jhocking Jun 11 '11 at 20:49
1  
@jhocking You know, Flash intros are things of the 00's, <video> is raising (apart from streaming), JS engines are getting fast, etc. I didn't mean to say that Flash is going to dissapear this Tuesday, but whereas Flash was a must in some areas years ago, now it isn't. Not to mention I prefer to avoid non-free-as-in-freedom technologies whenever it is possible. – Juanlu001 Jun 12 '11 at 10:04
An "open sourced language similar to AS3"? Call me a purist, but given those requirements I'd suggest AS3. Both the VM and the compiler are open source. – fenomas Jul 7 '11 at 5:52

6 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Hmmm... OO, static typing, open source, curly braces?:

  • Fantom - targets either the Java Virtual Machine or Common Language Runtime
  • D - strong support for object orientation but it's not required.
  • Vala
  • C# - the Mono variety
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Wow, lots of options, thank you very much! – Juanlu001 Feb 2 '11 at 21:29
up vote 3 down vote

haXe is similar, and has several backends (C++, Flash, JavaScript, PHP).

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Hmm, It sounds really strange to me to write in haXe and have a Javascript or PHP program... but thank you very much anyway! – Juanlu001 Feb 2 '11 at 10:41
up vote 1 down vote

As Flash platform is slowly dying nowadays

I didn't get the memo?! Anywho, google "Gordon" and "haXe".

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What's Gordon? Could you be more explicit? – Juanlu001 Feb 2 '11 at 14:12
up vote 1 down vote

Maybe you should take a look at Jangaroo project http://www.jangaroo.net/home/

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This is so interesting! Thank you very much! They mention also the Mascara project, which is like a reborn of JavaScript 2 (ES4). Great! – Juanlu001 Jun 12 '11 at 10:12
1  
I'm glad you find it interesting, too. The project looks very promising. – Srđan Stanić Jun 17 '11 at 12:06
up vote 0 down vote

I think Actionscript will be around for a while, especially once the flash IDE starts compiling to 'HTML5'. A friend of mine has the same background coming from flash and he's really enthusiastic about C#.

Personally I'm reliving my enthusiasm from flash (5 back in the day) through node.js (Serverside javascript) and processing.js (clientside graphical programming for in the browser)

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Javascript could be a great option, if it were at least strong typed. ECMAScript 4 tried to achieve this, but it was abandoned two or three years ago, as I have read lately. And yep, node.js and processing.js are amazing :D – Juanlu001 Feb 3 '11 at 9:53
up vote 0 down vote

As I know Action-Script used mostly for RIA(Rich Internate Application) development, providing rich UI, in min. time, java mostly used for server side programming( to develop Enterprize Application) and not for to develop rich UI, with fancy animation. If you want to develop UI system, you can go for Flex(as you know Action Script-3) it will gives you nice framework, and force you to use your OOP knowledge.

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I totally agree with you. In fact, I love ActionScript 3, but the closed nature of the SWF specification and the Adobe Flash Player bothers me. I think the world is moving to Open Source... – Juanlu001 Feb 3 '11 at 9:51
The SWF spec has been open for a couple of years: adobe.com/devnet/swf.html – fenomas Jul 7 '11 at 5:54
@fenomas I know, but: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWF#cite_ref-stillpartlyclosed_3-0 – Juanlu001 Jul 10 '11 at 10:32

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