Comments on: Comparing the syntax of Java 5 and ActionScript 3

By: EECOLOR

EECOLOR — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 20:17:01 +0000

The switch statements in AS3 can handle every type of comparisson. You can even put instances of objects as cases.

Greetz Erik

By: Igor Grapp

Igor Grapp — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:20:51 +0000

I would also add another item to the lis – AS3 has ability to use String objects as a “case” labels in switch statment.
For example:

var selector:String = “ALPHA”;

switch ( selector ) {
case “ALPHA”:
trace(“alpha”);break;

case “BETA”:
trace(“beta”);break;

}

Java code could look like this:

enum CASES { ALPHA, BETA }
public class Test {
public static void main(String args[]) {
CASES selector = CASES.ALPHA;
switch ( selector ) {
case ALPHA: System.out.println(“alpha”); break;
case BETA: System.out.println(“beta”); break;
}
}
}

By: EECOLOR

EECOLOR — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:41:09 +0000

“Unordered key-value pairs” You compare them with Array’s in Actionscript, i would however recommend you compare them with Objects. If you use Array’s as key-value holders, you can not use any of the Array’s functions and thus have bagage that is unneeded.

You write: var car:Object = {make:”Toyota”, model:”Camry”}; as an alternative syntax, this is however the ’shortcut’ for Object as [] is for Array’s, / / for regexps etc.

Very nice article though Thnx for making it

Greetz Erik

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 01:22:55 +0000

[quote]Paulius,

You are mistaken. Try this code:

for (var i:int=0;i

By: judah

judah — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 07:26:02 +0000

Thank you for this excellent resource. Now I can start flame wars with my Java friends. JK

I understood all comparisons but I would love a little more clarity on namespace feature in AS3. Would this mean you can include a namespace (what is this?) and then use only the function you need in the build operation (thus saving space in the swf)?

use namespace abc ;
abc::myCalc(){}

By: Yakov Fain

Yakov Fain — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 03:25:40 +0000

Thanks, Mike – the quotes were missing.

By: Mike Morearty

Mike Morearty — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:40:24 +0000

Typo in “Unordered key-value pairs” — In the AS3 column, it says this friends[good]=”Mary” and so on, but I think what you intended was friends["good"]=”Mary”.

By: Noel

Noel — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:06:28 +0000

Thanks, this is a great comparison.

You might also consider adding the AS3 “Dictionary” class to the row labeled: “Unordered key-value pairs”

By: Thomas Rühl

Thomas Rühl — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 11:14:28 +0000

There’s a mistake for actionscript’s strict equality. It has to be ‘===’ rather than ‘==’.

Cheers, Thomas.

By: J

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 10:26:33 +0000

Thanks, Yakov. Very useful article for beginner

By: Yakov

Yakov — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 10:16:20 +0000

Thanks, Phil.
This was an extra line (copy/paste error) in the AS3 column. Fixed

By: Phil Douglas

Phil Douglas — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 05:35:30 +0000

Is this upcasting for AS3 correct?

Abc myObj = new Xyz();

It looks like a copy of the java.

By: Yakov

Yakov — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 23:28:59 +0000

Paulius,

You are mistaken. Try this code:

for (var i:int=0;i<10;i++){
trace(“i=”+i);
}
trace (“i====”+i);

It prints i====10

By: Paulius

Paulius — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 22:40:26 +0000

There are block variables in AS3 – for (var x in y) { x is a variable visible only in this block of code }

By: Yakov

Yakov — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 20:15:52 +0000

Alessandro, There is no method overloading in AS3. There's a workaround described over here.

By: Mark Lapasa

Mark Lapasa — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:27:32 +0000

Very nice. A couple of weeks ago I thought of doing something similar to help aid me in my study of Java.

In regards to Arrays in AS3, I believe you can declare a reference to an array but you are not restricted to

a) defining the size of the array and
b) specifying the exclusive data type it must store

before you can start using the object. The array will automatically resize when adding and removing elements. If anything, AS3’s arrays behave more like J2SE5’s ArrayList.

I don’t know if this is worth mentioning but Arrays in AS3 can also be typed if desired (i.e. pseudo-Generics).
http://www.dannypatterson.com/Resources/Blog/EntryDetail.cfm?id=98

By: Alessandro Crugnola

Alessandro Crugnola — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:59:25 +0000

Isn’t there method overloading in Java?
That’s one of the great missing in as for me…

By: Yakov

Yakov — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:52:53 +0000

Michael,

Sure, you can use it. Just put a reference to this blog there.

All the best,
Yakov

By: Michael Klishin

Michael Klishin — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 18:40:34 +0000

Yakov,

Thanks for this nice comparison. I monitor russian Flex community wiki at flexwiki.novemberain.com. May I use this table there?
Thanks!