Max Riffner: Better Than Average

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Better Than Average

Well, I was hoping to have something special for my readers this Friday afternoon, but forces have conspired against me. We’ll all have to wait until next week to see what I had to say. Until that time… let’s talk about Flash.

I’ve talked about my desire to start enhancing my webwork more recently, though I was torn about whether I should. Plus, I’ve been a bit busy since January redesigning the day job website. Of course, that means I will inevitably try something new, or in this case, something old.

Like everyone else, I was fascinated with Google’s implementation of Flash on Google Finance for their interactive stock data. I’m curious if it will start something of a Flash renaissance. See, Flash has been around a long time now. Flash let you animate things on the web, and had some low level scripting with its built-in language, ActionScript. With the launch of ActionScript 2.0 however, things changed radically. Flash can be used to develop and enhance web applications.

Several weekends ago, I fired up Flash and set about writing my first Flash application with an ActionScript book in my lap. After finishing the first tutorial, I set the book down and ripped into my own creation: I wanted to create a simple app that averaged three numbers for you. That’s all; no more, no less. I also had it set so it would only average numbers and give you a warning if you tried to enter a letter to average. I had the whole thing written in under an hour. The results can be seen at Average Joe.

Average Joe was a blast to build, and so quick. What’s more, it is simple fun. I love the novelty of it all. I think I’m going to try my hand at a couple other smaller applications like Average Joe and incorporate them throughout MaxRiffner.com. For whatever reason, programming in Flash scratched the right itch. I think I’m hooked!