The differences between Vector and Array have been quite interesting since Vector was introduced in Flash Player 10. Until just recently I didn’t know that there was special syntax for declaring a Vector akin to Array's special a = [1,2,3,4,5] trick. This got me thinking about the various ways one can declare a Vector and, of course, how they’re implemented in bytecode and what the speed differences, if any, are. Read on for some nitty gritty about how you declare Vectors in AS3.
Posts Tagged operators
Increment and Decrement
Mar 5
This is a quick article to discuss a point brought up in a recent comment. Which is the fastest way to increment: j++, ++j, or j+=1? Likewise, which is the fastest way to decrement? Below I will dispel the myth that there is any difference between them at all.
Flexible If Syntax
Nov 2
This article is sort of a follow-up to my article on Flexible Loop Syntax. This was reported to my by a coworker who spotted the anomaly. I guess he had done with if the same sort of thing that I had done with for. Read on for a little insight into how the comma operator interacts with the if statement.
Case Statements
Sep 25
Many classes in AS3 are dynamic, meaning that you can add and remove their fields at runtime. This is powerful, but extraordinarily slow. This series will cover some common ways you might be inadvertently using dynamic access or using it too much. This will help you make your code faster. In the first installation of the series, I’m going to talk about the simple act of indexing an array or vector.
Comparing Objects
Aug 10
The comparison operators (< , <=, ==, >=, >) are clearly core to any programming language. The AS3 docs tell us a little about AS3’s special handling of strings when compared, but there is more to the story.
Indexing Anything
Aug 3
Indexing is a little bit special in ECMAScript languages like AS3, AS2, and JavaScript. MXMLC will gleefully let you index just about anything, even if there isn’t a chance it’ll work.
Pointless Code
Jul 31
We’ve all seen it, perhaps even in our own code. It’s something I think we do because we’re not really sure what would happen if we didn’t do it. Here are some little tidbits of pointless code I’ve been seeing recently:
The in Operator
Jul 8
I was recently surprised to find that the in keyword in AS3 has two meanings. I had been using it as part of the for-in and for-each loop syntax for a long time. Turns out it is an operator of its own. Read on for details.
Details of NaN
Jun 29
The constant NaN (not a number) can come up in a lot of situations. In AS3 it’s the default value of a Number field, it’s the result of division by zero in AS2, AS3, and JavaScript, and you can get it in a number of other ways. This article is about the reality of dealing with NaN.
