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ActionScript 3 was open source. - It was based upon ECMAScript 4. - The ActionScript code was open source, and the actual reference code for ECMAScript 4. -

ActionScript 3 was open source. - It was based upon ECMAScript 4. - The ActionScript code was open source, and the actual reference code for ECMAScript 4. - The JIT runtime of ActionScript 3 was open sourced (Tamarin) and "donated" to Mozilla to use as the basis for a faster JS runtime. Also, your comparison of Flash with Apple's Cocoa/OS platform frankly makes no sense. The situation is vastly different. Swift is in exactly the same position as Objective-C. It's under no greater threat to disappear than Objective-C is.

pixelmonkey 12y ago
ActionScript 3 was released in 2006, long after developers had already started departing the Flash ecosystem in droves and Flash fell out of favor as delivery technique for web applications. "Ajax", as we were calling it then, started to be used as the primary delivery technique for rich applications; the original Ajax essay came out in 2005 (http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/ajax-new-approach-web-applications/ http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/ajax-new-approach-web-appl...) and that's when we started reverse-engineering applications like Google Maps to build interactivity without proprietary plugins and languages.
pixelmonkey 12y ago
Oh, and importantly, the Flash Plugin, the runtime, is not even open source today. Making the tooling open source is important and good, but also tends not to be enough.
- ytch 12y ago
  So opensource a language maybe isn't a problem? Regardless the openness of obj-c and swift, the iPhone runtime is still close-sourced. And you can write your own swift compiler in LLVM, even if apple don't opensource it.
  - mantrax5 12y ago
    Open source is rarely the problem in the real world. But that's what you get from people who see divide the software world in "open" and "closed". At one point or another your software needs to run on a piece of hardware. At least some of it won't be open, because as IBM learned in the 80s, you end up giving your hard earned lunch to your competitors.

pixelmonkey 12y ago

ActionScript 3 was released in 2006, long after developers had already started departing the Flash ecosystem in droves and Flash fell out of favor as delivery technique for web applications. "Ajax", as we were calling it then, started to be used as the primary delivery technique for rich applications; the original Ajax essay came out in 2005 (http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/ajax-new-approach-web-applications/ http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/ajax-new-approach-web-appl...) and that's when we started reverse-engineering applications like Google Maps to build interactivity without proprietary plugins and languages.

pixelmonkey 12y ago

Oh, and importantly, the Flash Plugin, the runtime, is not even open source today. Making the tooling open source is important and good, but also tends not to be enough.

ytch 12y ago
So opensource a language maybe isn't a problem? Regardless the openness of obj-c and swift, the iPhone runtime is still close-sourced. And you can write your own swift compiler in LLVM, even if apple don't opensource it.
- mantrax5 12y ago
  Open source is rarely the problem in the real world. But that's what you get from people who see divide the software world in "open" and "closed". At one point or another your software needs to run on a piece of hardware. At least some of it won't be open, because as IBM learned in the 80s, you end up giving your hard earned lunch to your competitors.