Summary

ActionScript 2.0 moves Flash into the world of serious development tools. No longer will there be a huge learning curve in learning ActionScript. Developers will be able to create maintainable applications quickly because ActionScript 2.0 follows standard OOP practices.

ActionScript 2.0 requires you to perform certain best practices, like keeping all your classes in ActionScript files. ActionScript 2.0 is compiled to ActionScript 1.0, which means that you can use ActionScript 2.0 to create applications that run in Flash Player 6.

All classes must be defined in separate ActionScript files with the file extension .as. Packages are supported both at compile time (through folders) and at runtime by the creation of objects representing those folders. Organizing applications through packages and classes results in a much more maintainable application; it also is much more logical than hanging code off timelines .

You can simulate multiple inheritance by using interfaces in ActionScript 2.0; you can also protect your data by declaring methods and properties, either public or private. It's best practice to create getter and setter methods either manually or with the get / set keywords. All the components have been completely rewritten in ActionScript 2.0 and they incorporate all these best practices. One of the best ways to understand the new functionality is to delve into the component code.

ActionScript now supports XML, Remoting, and Web Services to connect to dynamic data. You can easily take the returned data from any of these and connect the data to visual UI components using either ActionScript or visual property inspectors. There is no better solution that lets you create rich Internet applications.