Yesterday I posted some simple info on how to use the cpp pre-processor to pre-process ActionScript files. I showed how you can use the #ifdef directive to conditionally add / remove stuff from the final ActionScript file. However, cpp can do a lot more than just conditional section includes.
You can use the #define directive to define constants within your ActionScript file / class.
For example, lets look at a simple example:
One thing I often do in my code is create custom trace / output functions that recursively go through and print out properties. However, this requires that I add some custom code to my classes which I don’t really want in the final version.
So, I started exploring pre-processors that I could use to make it easier to add and remove debugging code. I first looked at m4. While it seems to be very powerful, it was overkill for what I needed, and looked to be very difficult to use. Christian Cantrell then suggested that I look at cpp, a C pre-processor. I checked it out, and it does exactly what I need, in an easy to learn and use syntax.
Just noticed this, but Colin Moock (author of Essential ActionScript 2.0) is doing a couple of ActionScript bootcamps in May and June. If you want to learn ActionScript from the master, or take your skills to the next level, this is the perfect opportunity.
Colin will be doing sessions in Toronto, Los Angeles and Rochester, NY. You can find more information, including content and dates here.
I am trying to put together a list of non-English weblogs which discuss Macromedia technologies.
If you have any suggestions post the URL and language in the comments.
Geoff Bowers has posted the intro movies from the day 1 and 2 keynotes at MXDU. These were created by Necatarine, and are hilarious.
You can view them here.
I just discovered that all of the Breeze live presentations that Macromedia has with user group managers and Team Macromedia are available to the public. Ed Sullivan just sent me the links, so I wanted to share them here:
First of all, I am sorry that I have not been posting much for the past couple of months. As I posted earlier, I was on sabbatical and vacation for two months, and more recently I have had some personal issues I had to deal with and have been trying to buy a new house. Things should settle down soon, and I will be posting a lot more (there is a ton of cool stuff coming down the pike to talk about).
There has been a lot of discussion going on over the past week or so about the Yahoo! Toolbar offer on the Macromedia website. Before I go into too much detail about it, I just want to clarify what the offer actually is and is not.
