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Branden Hall & Joshua Davis have created a new ActionScript 3 framework called HYPE, which simplifies a lot of complex actions in Flash like creating auto generating graphics, mouse followers and grid based patterns. Think of it as a how to be Joshua Davis toolkit. From the site:
HYPE is a creative coding framework built on top of ActionScript 3. A major goal of HYPE is to allow newcomers to Flash and ActionScript to creatively play and express themselves while they are learning how to program.
The component set in Flash has always left a little to be desired. First introduced as “smart clips” and then later as componenets they have always been a little bloated for my taste. I’ve been using Bit Components for years and have seen great file size reductions in my AS2 projects.
Recently, I’ve noticed some really great AS3 component sets popping up like MinimalComps by Flash guru (and former Brightcove employee Keith Peters) and Bumpslide. While Minimal comps is AS3 only, Bumpslide is AS2 and AS3 and extends the MinimalComps classes. Check them out!
Xray is an open source debugger for Flash that blows away Flash’s built in (aenemic) debugging tool. Xray lets you dig into any object easily, do advanced tracing and execute runtime code to debug your Flash/Flex apps. It has two parts: a tiny component that drops into your Flash movie and a desktop or browser based debugger.