Introduction; Intended Audience - MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-LEARNING ACTIONSCRIPT 2.0 IN FLASH Manual

Introduction

Macromedia Flash Basic 8 and Macromedia Flash Professional 8 are the professional standard
authoring tools for producing high-impact web experiences. ActionScript is the language you
use to add interactivity to Flash applications, whether your applications are simple animated
SWF files or more complex rich Internet applications. You don't have to use ActionScript to
use Flash, but if you want to provide basic or complex user interactivity, work with objects
other than those built into Flash (such as buttons and movie clips), or otherwise turn a SWF
file into a more robust user experience, you'll probably want to use ActionScript.
For more information, see the following topics:

Intended audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Updating Flash XML files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
System requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
About the documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Additional resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Intended audience
This manual assumes that you have already installed Flash Basic 8 or Flash Professional 8 and
know how to use the user interface.You should know how to place objects on the Stage and
manipulate them in the Flash authoring environment. If you have used a scripting language
before, ActionScript will seem familiar. But if you're new to programming, ActionScript basics
are easy to learn. You can start with simple commands and build more complexity as you
progress. You can add a lot of interactivity to your files without having to learn (or write) a lot
of code.
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