Jabberwocky In ActionScript

VeryVito writes "You can tell Flash programming is beginning to grow up: It's not just for designers anymore, but for real, honest-to-goodness tech geeks. As evidence, I present The ActionScript Jabberwocky. Enjoy!" It's almost as good as reading it in the original Klingon.

Comments

Ugh

[DrMrLordX]

No more Romulan Ale at diplomatic functions! Jeez.

Oh My

[MikeDX]

Jabberwocky in actionscript.. What's next may I ask? Shakespeare in perl?

Re:Oh My

[ESqVIP]

Ohh, that's old. At least in regular expressions:

/bb|[^b]{2}/

I remember seeing that in a ThinkGeek t-shirt.

Re:Oh My

[Anonymous Coward]

huh... I really can't tell which is more frightening; the fact that I got the joke or that I found it funny..

Re:Oh My

[maxwell demon]

Actually, more interesting would be perl in Shakespeare.

Re:Oh My

[WebMasterP]

To add a little geek to this, my friends and I have long discussed that isn't actually correct.

To be or not to be implies an exlcusive or (known to some as XOR). That regular expression matches both 2-b's or not 2 b's.

I know, we have to much time on our hands.

Re:Oh My

[Zwets]

Hmm, doesn't that read "two b or two not b" ("to be or to not be") ? How about..

/bb|(b[^b]|[^b]b|[^b][^b])/

Of course, this doesn't address the fact that a single letter or even an empty string clearly qualifies as "not two b". Oh well..

Re:Oh My

[ESqVIP]

Yeah, I agree. But I decided to leave that alone, as when I came up with /bb|(?!bb)/ I saw that it was too trivial to be as fun (since it would actually match anything).

Re:Oh My

[ESqVIP]

Oh, and let me quote a signature I saw here on /., somewhat related to this subject... and quite funny to me:

0xBB | ~0xBB = 0xFFFFFFFF. So there...

Re:Oh My

[hummassa]

An *empty* string certainly qualifies as "not to be" :-)

Re:Oh My

[ozbird]

What's next may I ask?

The Dead Parrot Sketch in Python?

Re:Oh My

[radiumhahn]

/bb|(?!bb)/msgi is simplest form...

Re:Oh My

[g00z]

I was under the impression that it was universally represented as such:

2b || !2b

I'm hard pressed to think of a language (at least a modern one) where that ISN'T correct syntax wise.

Re:Oh My

[ESqVIP]

Well, I'm hard pressed to think of a language where this IS correct. In C, C++, VB, Pascal/Delphi, Haskell, Python, Ruby (and Perl too, I bet): 2b is neither a valid number ("b" is not a digit unless you use 0xN, $N or other hex notations) nor a valid identifier (variables, constants and function names must start with a letter or an underscore; on some languages, a prefix is also needed) Additional problem in Python and VB, among others: || is not an operator. They have "or" for that.

Re:Oh My

[JabberWokky]

ToBe || !ToBe

is valid where a variable does not need a special character ($ToBe or the like).

(2*B) || !(2*B)

Has the same problem. Variables sometimes need something special to make them variables, and sometimes not. You're kind stuck.

Although...

#define $B B
(2*$B) || !(2*$B)

Passes languages that use the CPP and also PHP (unary comment). (Just tested in gcc)

--
Evan

Re:Oh My

[Anonymous Coward]

$world =~ /(bb|[^b]{2})/.
$answer = $1;

(two bs, or not two bs, that is the question; thus, answer will be either two bs, or not two bs... then tell you which! perfect!)

Uhh

[lightdarkness]

I'm a tad confused, are we supposed to find this funny?

Re:Uhh

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you are supposed to stick it up your ass and enjoy it.. just like Cowboy Neil does.

Re:Uhh

[essreenim]

Flash. An archaic 21st century tool designed to cripple the speed of the most powerful machine

Re:Uhh

[DNS-and-BIND]

Much of the homemade "humor" on the internet is like this. Someone's good idea that doesn't really fly. It would have been good for a faint smile if it had been aimed at a much, MUCH narrower audience instead of at Slashdot.

Everyone thinks they can be The Onion, and they can't. Sorry guys.

Re:Uhh

[maxwell demon]

Of course they can be The Onion, at least in C:

#define they The Onion

Re:Uhh

[jtrascap]

Like most tools, only if you use it as a hammer...

Re:Uhh

[UserGoogol]

No, Mr. Darkness. I expect you to die.

The original...

[Black Parrot]

...made more sense.

Re:The original...

[ChadU]

As an actionscript programmer I firmly disagree... however, I would like to know what class .snicker_snack() extends.

Re:The original...

[Anonymous Coward]

the original recited

http://69.167.166.254:8888/Aceyalone/09_-_the_ja bb erwocky.mp3.m3u

or as html

http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/poem/ ja bberwocky.html

im partial to the recited version. =)

bug?

[osmethnee]

surely 'brillig' should be set to true?

Okay, but does it compile?

[Vo0k]

And if so, what does it do? I guess not much of an useful thing.
I think the Obfuscated C Code Contest poems in C were better, as they at least had to compile to something useful.

Re:Okay, but does it compile?

[FoboldFKY]

Perhaps, but this is an ActionScript programmer. If he had the requisite skills to munge the C preprocessor to produce poetry in code (that love letters one being my favourite), then he wouldn't be programming in ActionScript!

...he'd be programming in Perl :P

Re:Okay, but does it compile?

[Anonymous Coward]

no

with(sword in hand) will give you an error on compile

for(borograve) should give you an exceeds max recursion error on run.

Re:Okay, but does it compile?

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny, I know this guy, and he does C and Perl too. But this was done in ActionScript, see? It's different that way.

Meanwhile, you'll keep waiting for the C++ and fortran plug-ins for Mozilla, won'tcha?

turdhead.com???

[winkydink]

How appropriate

free time...

[zxflash]

ah the benefits of having lots of free time on your hands :)

The original

[Hew]

Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One two! One two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Re:The original

[david.given]

Pah. You cannot truly appreciate Jabberwocky until you have read it in the original Klingon...

puqloDwI' ja'pu'vawq Dayep
pe'vIl chop Ho'Du'Daj; pe'vIl Suq pachDu'Daj
Ha'DIbaH puv juchyub yIyep
bInDepSuHach vaQeHmuS ghombe' DanIDjaj

'etlhDaj veSpatlh HujtaH ghopDaj--
jagh HoSlaw' law' veqlargh Hos puS! nIteb nej nI'
vaj Sor tamtam, ghaH retlhDaq Qam
nI'be' leSlI' ghah (Sor retlhDaq) 'ej ghaH QublI'

(Courtesy of Keith Lim...)

Re:The original

[lahi]

And obviously the Flash programmer didn't understand a word of it, otherwise he would have written

mome.outgrabe(raths)

rather than

mome.raths(outgrabe)

-Lasse

Re:The original

[Anonymous Coward]

"The mome rath hasn't been born that could outgrabe me."

Re:The original

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is an old parody of the poem, i remember reading both this and the original in high school.

Jabberwacky

Twas Brillo and G.E. Stoves
Did Proctor-Gamble in the Glade
All Pillsbury were the Tasty Loaves
And in a Minute Maid

"Beware the Station Break, my son,
The voice that lulls, the ads that vex,
Beware the Doctor's Claim and shun
That horror called Brand-X!"

He took his Q-Tip swab in hand,
Long time the Tension Headache fought,
So Dristan he by a Mercury,
And Bayer break'd in thought.

And as in Bufferin Gulf he stood,
The Station Break, with Rise of Tame,
Came Whisking through the Pride-hazed wood,
And Cream-Rinsed as it came!

"Buy one, buy two, we're almost through!"
The Q-Tip Dash went Spic-and-Span,
He Tide Airwick, and with Bisquick,
Went Aero-Waxing Ban.

"And hast thou Dreft the Station Break?
Ajax the Breck, Excedrin boy,
Oh Fab wash day! Cashmere Bouquet!"
He Handi-wrapped with Joy.

Twas Brillo and G.E. Stoves
Did Proctor-Gamble in the Glade
All Pillsbury were the Tasty-Loaves
And in a Minute Maid.

Mad Magazine, circa 1961

Re:The original

[mad.frog]

Depends. I always assumed that "mome" was an adjective describing "rath", presumably a noun, in which case

raths['mome'].outgrabe()

might be more appropriate...

Re:The original

[Angostura]

A splendid poem, and the bane of translators (Douglas Hofstadter wrote about that). One of the nice things is that it marked the creation of the word 'chortle' which is now in pretty wide circulation.

The tide has changed

[larsl]

I think it's been two years since I've had to email a webmaster and ask, "Flash only--WTF?" There are still some rubes in non-tech industries that load up on Flash crap, but isn't Flash mostly an anachronism these days?

Re:The tide has changed

[deimtee]

anachromism" is a noun , not an adjective. Therefor an article is required. Perhaps you should learn english better before posting.

That's a rather colourless comment.

Re:The tide has changed

[Anonymous Coward]

There are still some rubes in non-tech industries that load up on Flash crap, but isn't Flash mostly an anachronism these days?

Uh, no. What makes you think that? Flash is *everywhere*. Hell, even Slashdot show Flash ads.

So the player isn't open source. Big deal. Macromedia provide specs so you can write your own player and embrace it.

Re:The tide has changed

[Vo0k]

Stop trofling poor gnerk, his brilusive postment was truxceptionally Lewiscarollian in its arture!

Re:The tide has changed

[tehcyder]

Grandparent says "an anachronism" now, has it been edited or something?

Re:The tide has changed

[tehcyder]

rubes in non-tech industries

So, like, the majority of the Web then?

If you spent some rube time surfing, you would know that there are only too many Flash only sites still around.

Re:The tide has changed

[PhoenixFlare]

but isn't Flash mostly an anachronism these days?

Only if you hold to the attitude that if you don't like or find something useful, then nobody else could possibly get any value out of it.

Which seems to be all too common around here, sadly.

Flash can be a great tool for animation, games, and even site navigation if used properly.

Re:The tide has changed

[Anonymous Coward]

Flash is used a lot in online education, I worked in that field (university level distance education over the web) until last year.

Tho the way its used is really sad - no reuse, etc. It wastes a lot of everybody's time.

However it does look good, and I havent seen it crash much.

In some ways its better than alternatives -- flash player is pretty ubiquitous, and ActionScript is the same on any browser unlike DHTML. Personally I like SVG, but even that is a bit of a nightmare for complex apps.

Re:The tide has changed

[UserGoogol]

Flash, like Java applets, is best for mindless fun. Thus this story.

hello, Mods?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, this is not a troll. Read the guidelines before you moderate next time...

True geeks?

[dmayle]

You can tell Flash programming is beginning to grow up

Quite the contrary. I'll believe it's beginning to grow up when I see a non-Macromedia plugin, and someone's ported DeCSS to it... ;)

Re:True geeks?

[drinkypoo]

Here is the plugin.

When will you have the DeCSS port done?

Jabberwocky? Klingon?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure sounds grown up. ;-D

Actionscript login systems

[dncsky1530]

I have always been wary of using actionscript for anything other than banner ads and website introductions. One thing I have seen is that people use actionscript for login systems; which can usually be hacked in less than 1 minute (with exception of SQl based), most people use this tutorial infact.

Re:Actionscript login systems

[Jotham]

So basically...

Flash allows me to use if statements
Some people use this to write if (answer=="Password") {...
therefore I should be wary of flash

And this is modded as Insightful?

Just another, "You can do stupid things in Flash, therefore Flash is bad", post. Wouldn't the better lesson to be learnt be, don't trust client-side code as security.

PS. Drag a C/C++ program in notepad and you can see all it's ASCII strings too...

Naw - I'd rather see ActionScript Wumpus

[Zawash]

I'd rather see a nice, fancy Hunt the Wumpus ActionScript - but I'm not sure a graphical interface would do the game justice..
It would have to be the Doom III engine, then. :)

Re:Naw - I'd rather see ActionScript Wumpus

[Anonymous Coward]

How about Hunt the Wampa by the Clone Wars Crew?

Re:Naw - I'd rather see ActionScript Wumpus

[PiGuy]

+shameless plug How about PostScript Wumpus? -shameless plug

The Hunting of the Snark

[panurge]

To be proper Flash, this needs massive load times. What about doing the Hunting of the Snark?

Actually, Dodgson needs to be encoded in a seriously object oriented language. The various characters have methods and properties...it'll look better after I've slept on it.

Re:The Hunting of the Snark

[mad.frog]

Actually, Dodgson needs to be encoded in a seriously object oriented language. The various characters have methods and properties...it'll look better after I've slept on it.

Huh? How is ActionScript not "seriously object oriented"?

ActionScript 2 (which is nearly identical to ECMAScript 4) is a dynamically-typed object-oriented language that's really a joy to work in... much more pleasant, IMHO, than, say, Python, since it also allows for compile-time type checking without compromising the dynamic typing ability of the language. (See here for more info.)

It doesn't get as much attention around Slashdot, presumably because there is no robust FOSS development-and-playback environment (at least, none that I'm aware of), but if you like Python, Ruby, etc., you're doing yourself a disservice by ignoring AS2/ES4...

Bragging about Flash on Slashdot?

[DeComposer]

Isn't that like bragging about your Packard Bell 486SX-25 running Windows 95 on a 14" grayscale monitor? With no mouse?

Re:Bragging about Flash on Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bragging about Flash on Slashdot?

Isn't that like bragging about your Packard Bell 486SX-25 running Windows 95 on a 14" grayscale monitor? With no mouse?

Damn straight it is! BAD ASS.

Re:Bragging about Flash on Slashdot?

[mr_z_beeblebrox]

Isn't that like bragging about your Packard Bell 486SX-25 running Windows 95 on a 14" grayscale monitor? With no mouse?

Why is everyone so jealous of my PC!

Re:Bragging about Flash on Slashdot?

[meringuoid]

Running Windows '95 on a 486SX-25? Dear me no. Painful. I recommend you upgrade to at least a DX2-66 with eight megs of RAM before you even consider that.

Re:Bragging about Flash on Slashdot?

[Elminst]

Why?
I ran that exact setup (with 12M RAM on a 106 Meg [yes, MEG] hard drive) and it ran '95 fine.
Running applications other than notepad or the solitaire games made for some fun load times, but they still ran fine.

Re:Bragging about Flash on Slashdot?

[prescot6]

I can beat that. I had a 486dx-25 with only 8mb RAM that I put 95 on.

I was hurting until I ran dblspace and put RAM Xtender (or some other shitty program of that nature) on there. :)

Re:Bragging about Flash on Slashdot?

[drinkypoo]

Mice are for pussies.

(meow)

Perl Poetry

[Rufus211]

I personally think that most Perl Poetry is far more interesting and original.

What about Shockwave/Director

[Nonoche]

hey if Flash isn't just for designers anymore I guess that would make Director & Shockwave the new tech toys for ubergeeks...

WTF?

[jonr]

What idiot greenlighted this? Oh...

Faust

[tomee]

I won't be impressed until all of Göthes Faust is done in ActionScript.

Re:Faust

[B2382F29]

Actually it is "Goethe" not "Göthe"

Re:Faust

[tomee]

True. When I saw my post it looked wrong. I'll try to remember the preview button from now on.

I like the ? thing

[Basehart]

Some trick of the light no doubt, but super cool all the same!

Flash is good

[Jeppe Salvesen]

to some degree. The player is widely distributed, so if you have the creativity and talent to make something richer than plain ole web pages - why not?

Just make a really plain html version - those people who have either disabilities or an anti-flash bias will appreciate the simplicity as their browsers or minds respectively will not be able to process all that pretty design anyhow.

Re:Flash is good

[vidarh]

The only thing flash is good for is making it easier for me to selectively turn off ads and annoying useless content in a quick and painless way (obviously by making sure NOT to have the player)

Re:Flash is good

[Fred_A]

The player may be widely distributed but it won't run on Linux on my AMD64 machine (or a Mac, or a number of other architectures). So since there are no alternatives to the Macromedia player that we can compile ourselves, HTML content is still much appreciated.

And the (smallish) AMD64 crowd is at least at an advantadge since we can at least setup a 32 bit subsystem and use that hack to run 32 bit binaries. It does require installing a second copy of most of the OS though. So you end up with the regular 64 bit OS, plus 32 bit copies of most libraries for the 32 bit binaries that will run inside the 64 bit environment (quite a few do), plus a complete chrooted 32 bit OS for apps that won't run inside the 64 bit system. So we at least have a solution. sortof...

Re:Flash is good

[edremy]

The player may be widely distributed but it won't run on Linux on my AMD64 machine (or a Mac, or a number of other architectures)

That's funny- my (OSX) Mac runs Flash just fine. It also runs Flash fine in Classic emulation mode Not only that, I've got the MX development kit for it, which is indistinguishable from the PC version.

Or do you mean Flash isn't available for Linux running on a Mac? I'm sure all 3 of you must be very unhappy. If you're using odd combinations of hardware, don't expect to get much commercial support.

Re:Flash is good

[Fred_A]

And *oh surprise* all Windows users can also run Flash player without trouble. I know it runs on MacOS, don't be silly.

However all users of odd combinations of hardware and software end up making quite a lot of people in the end. And the point of the web actually *is* to make documents device independant. Using Flash for navigation or vital content breaks that.

Re:Flash is good

[Anonymous Coward]

For Linux on amd64, and possibly G5s, Flash doesn't work. Boy, am I glad I got an athlon 64 :D

Re:Flash is good

[Anonymous Coward]

The web is supposed to have a point? Have you ever _browsed_ the web?

Can't be worse than Vogon!

[tod_miller]

Computing magazine (UK) has a back-bytes page which showcased some funny computer language based lyrics and poems.

Jabberwocky is a fantastic piece of work, it is the picasso of text, the lurid incandecent imagination of profound insanity.

I think it should be in Python, Perl and php (sic) now.

Lets not forget JavaWocky...

... That's the question!

[vivia]

BB---|---------[OR]___
|_[NOT]___[ ]

Couldn't draw logic gates in ASCII art, but if you follow it, it reads "Two 'B' or not two 'B'" ... And, logically, it's always true!

Re:... That's the question!

[mattyrobinson69]

what i think your after i a diode. get an LED, coz they're cool.

get a blue one, coz theyre cooler.

Dodgy URLs on Slashdot?

[IngramJames]

May I please ask, for the benefit of those of use whose web URLs are logged at work, that URLS like that one are highlighted as "you may not want to click this at work under any circumstances because it's got a well-dodgy URL that could stand out like a sore thumb in weblogs as being potentially offensive"?

For those that don't know, the link is to "turdhead.com"

Sheesh!

Re:Dodgy URLs on Slashdot?

[mr_z_beeblebrox]

May I please ask, for the benefit of those of use whose web URLs are logged at work

Might I ask that to avoid being a luser you look to see what you are clicking on and don't depend on the admins to hold your hand? Seriously, that attitude is WHY viruses and trojans spread (albeit different circumstances)

Re:Dodgy URLs on Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's rediculous to think someone would get their panties all in a bundle over that. I think you need to lighten up. Besides I think most admins avoid logging as much as possible so they can't know because they really don't want to know. If you work somewhere that would get angry with you over that, then they were probably already angry that you were even reading slashdot instead of working.

turdhead is about the equivelent of "doodoo-head", which is something the 3 yr olds call eachother. Maybe it's not all grown up and mature. But I'd rather be a kid who can smile and laugh, than some old frigid jaded geezer that overreacts to the most trivial things. When the last time you smiled or laughed. Do you still have a pulse? Why don't you go put away the laptop, turn off the cell phone and pager, go wander around nature and forget about work for a while. Sounds like you need a break.

Re:Dodgy URLs on Slashdot?

[IngramJames]

Quite right; I ought to have checked and do on most other sites I visit. But I've somehow got into this terrible habit of trusting that slashdot main stories about technology are unlikely to link to websites with URLs which include naughty-bad-words.

Of course, the admins hold our hands very nicely with links like this because of something to do with goats, I understand. Just never expected them to post one themselves.

Oh, and thanks for the pointless flame; been ages since I had one of those.. reminds me of the good old days of USENET.. sigh...

Re:Dodgy URLs on Slashdot?

[IngramJames]

It's rediculous to think someone would get their panties all in a bundle over that.

So do I, but I knew a guy whose job it was to go through every single link everyone in the company had visited. They checked everything. It was a client site, and I'm very glad I don't work there any more, thank you. Had great fun making up outrageous URLs on my last day, though..

It happens. There are plenty of paranoid/anal companies out there to work for.

turdhead is about the equivelent of "doodoo-head"

Not in this part of the world. Try "shithead" instead.

Re:Dodgy URLs on Slashdot?

[mr_z_beeblebrox]

Oh, and thanks for the pointless flame [winternet.com]; been ages since I had one of those..

I am a sysadmin and was removing a stupid trojan from a users account when I posted that, so more venting than was necessary. Uh...regarding flames, usenet etc...I am uh...chronologically advanced :-).

Re:Dodgy URLs on Slashdot?

[IngramJames]

more venting than was necessary

I figured it sounded a bit like that.. I'm a VB programmer (bad enough in itself) and my machine has decided that it likes doing its own thing this week, thank you. So I'm pretty tetchy myself :)

"You fight like a dairy farmer!"

[Anonymous Coward]

How appropriate

Did anybody else mentally fill in "..., you fight like a cow!" after reading that?

Re:"You fight like a dairy farmer!"

[Cais]

...yeah. Look out behind you! A three headed monkey!

Brilliant!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is utterly brilliant! One of the most beautiful programing languages I've ever seen. Well, the most.

Actually ActionScript has grown up

[Qbertino]

Because MM ignored Linux, I ignored Flash for two years after having finished some large projects with it (and thus noticed it's shortcomings), but earlier this year a client aproached me with a large Flash / ActionScript job and after looking into it I took the challange.
The MM Flash IDE is as crappy as ever, but ActionScript 2 is a full range PL, very similar to Java. With proper exception handling, OOP and all that stuff.
as. files can be imported and compiled in meaning you don't have to use MMs shoddy AS editor anymore. Despite the utter crap that's said about AS and Flash on /., it is a powerfull technology with some very cool and unique features. And it's powerfull VM is *very* small by modern standards. Due to the fact that Flashers usually can't programm very well it isn't catching on that good, but I expect Flash/AS 2 to gain serious foothold in other territories than 'flashy websites' very soon. Ming and Xical, for instance, are good examples for serious OSS projects using Flash/ActionScript.

Re:Actually ActionScript has grown up

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

Too bad there's no free tools to make Flash. Sorry but I'm not paying Macromedia $500 to develop for their format. At least the J2SDK is freely available.

Re:Actually ActionScript has grown up

[StandardDeviant]

Read his links more closely. Ming is a library to programmatically generate flash from any number of languages (really a closer competitor to Generator than Flash MX, but that saves you even more money, so...).

Re:Actually ActionScript has grown up

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

Doh! I really gotta work on my reading comprehension skills.. and check out Ming, of course. :)

Click to View is better...

[FooAtWFU]

I prefer the Flash Click to View extension for Firefox (although I haven't seen a version for 0.9! WHERE'S MY VERSION FOR 0.9?!?!?!). This replaces the Flashiness with abig grey button I can click if I want it to show for some reason (the inane web site). I find that WITHOUT the plugin, I get message boxes complaining about the lack of the plugin far too often.

Re:Click to View is better...

[pogle]

I'd give my right arm for that extension currently...stupid flash animations slow down my browsing far to often lately.

Re:Click to View is better...

[Slurm-V]

It still works in 9.x (I've had it in 9,1 and 9.3). Just install it from the extension room, and note that there's a post down the bottom of that page that tells you how to remove it (which is still currently problematic).

Re:Click to View is better...

[DeComposer]

It's FlashBlock now.

huuurrahhh

[Anonymous Coward]

well said and its nice to see a positive comment.

after all - lets be honest - its a hell of a lot nicer to look at than anything acheivable in HTML (And a lot more reliable not so much of that browser difference issue to worry about).

and yes this is from experience - i use flash as The tool for the front end side of projects.
eg,
a net based multi player quiz (- xmlsocket comms back to server)
interactive educational tools.
data reporting front end (loading xml data and graphically displaying it). ...and oh pleeeaasse... that old 'it takes so long to download' argument is really starting to age a bit.

actually on that note - can we have a wee survey... who here is looking at these pages via 56k dial in? ;)

How about...

[buford_tannen]

An *empty* string certainly qualifies as "not to be" :-)

I failed "Fundamentals of Computer Science" the first time, you insensitive clod!

Oh wait... this isn't a poll. Carry on then.

Flash = Thin Client

[truffle]

Flash has grown up. What it represents (to me) is a potentially really solid thin client for building remote applications.

Why not use Java? Well compare the amount and quality of flash games to java games, that's my metric for my belief that at least for gaming, that flash is probably a better dev environment.

But the huge problem right now is the lack of quality documentation/tutorials/books on actionscript 2.0 (released last november). It's not completely backwards compatible. Most of the books are oriented towards dumbasses, and they are just actionscript 1.0 books with the code tweaked so it works on 2.0 (i.e. not OOPy).

If anyone has a good recommendation in terms of actionscript 2.0 books, I'd appreciate it. I have this one, which is a good book, but is very oriented towards AS1.0 programmers moving to AS2.0. It's hard to find a book that is geek friendly, example oriented, and designed from scratch for actionscript 2.0.

A feeble effort

[Mr Guy]

Lameness filter killed my attempt at Shakespeare in Perl. How rude.

Shakespeare in Perl in Journal

Goethe[sic] might agree

[panurge]

Excuse my inability to get written German right, but didn't he actually write something like

Nur mit Beschrankten zeigt sich erst der Meister

- i.e. it is through working within limitations that one shows ones mastery of something. And Doktor Faustus in Actionscript would be working in one hell of a limitation.

State of Flash

[jaaron]

Flash is alive and well. It's increasingly used for games, ads, online cartoons, and what are often called "rich internet applications."

Like any other technology, Flash has its place. It can be abused (like javascript) but also fills a niche and solves many problems very well (IMHO much better than Java Applets). I doubt you'll find someone writing up technical documentation in it, but for a web based interactive game or animation, it's a good choice.

Three words "Sony Sonicstage Sucks"

[Chineseyes]

I can't believe I actually read this on filth on slashdot. Anyone who needs to know exactly why actionscript/flash should NEVER EVER be used as a programming tool just needs to look at Sony Sonicstage and Sony simple burner. Those two programs prove how dog slow and bloated flash really is. If you haven't had the displeasure of using those programs with a minidisc player you don't know the true pain of using flash based programs.

Re:Three words "Sony Sonicstage Sucks"

[mad.frog]

Ah, logic:

1. Program "X" is poorly written
2. Program "X" is written in Language "Y"
3. Therefore, Language "Y" is incapable of producing anything but poorly written programs

Sigh...

Homestar Runner

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.homestarrunner.com/

Bah

[xenostar]

All the Flash-bashing on Slashdot has got to stop. Macromedia has done an outstanding job with Flash. They developed an extremely efficient file format (take a look at the SWF file format specification, it's truly beautiful), they opened it for everyone to use. They developed a powerful language, that, although of course interpreted, compiles into something as close to a binary as you can get. Yes, their IDE costs money, and there's no native linux version, but i see people who paid money for MSVS bitch about it, and i dont have to explain the irony here. And as far as a native linux version, well, that is for the same reasons that no other major company ported their software, because not enough people would buy it. So, please, stop harping on it so much, it's a result of many people's hard work and cudos to them for making it so popular.

Re:Bah

[Anonymous Coward]

>take a look at the SWF file format specification, it's truly beautiful... they opened it for everyone to use
The SWF format is only partially open which is reason enought to avoid it. You actually have to license the format specification in order to read it -see here:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/op en/licensing/fileformat/(would you really be using HTML and Python if you had to license their specifications?). Not only that, but the licensing agreement specifically precludes users from reading SWF movies (quote from license:.. for the

• sole

purposes of developing Products that output SWF) - the specification can only be used for creating SWFs. So if you want to optimise, introspect, or otherwise look inside an SWF you're not permitted to license the format.

Re:Bah

[fiannaFailMan]

Well said. See my journal for an explanation of why /. is inundated with Flash-bashers. And stand by to be bombarded by open-source fundamentalist nit-pickers who will doubtless be able to pick holes in it.

Using the Flash Player to solve problems

[claus68]

Actually Flash can be used to solve serious and useful stuff too.

• DENG Examples: http://claus.packts.net/deng/examples/
• DENG Features: http://claus.packts.net/deng/features.php
• DENG Home: http://claus.packts.net/

DENG is a browser written in Actionscript 1 (zero install deployment of latest web standards to the vast majority of web users that have the Flash Player 6 VM installed). Partly supports CSS3, XHTML, XForms, XFrames, SVG, SMIL, ..

barely brillig ...

[jabberwock]

BeWARE, dammit. Time for a new username.

Correct!

[overunderunderdone]

Correct, at least as far as it can be. Carroll has Humpty Dumpty give an explanation:

"And then 'mome raths'?" said Alice. "If I'm not giving you too much trouble."

"Well a 'rath' is a sort of green pig, but 'mome' I'm not certain about. I think it's sort for 'from home'--meaning that they'd lost their way, you know."

"And what does 'outgrabe' mean?"

"Well, 'outgribing' is something between bellowing an whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle: however, you'll hear it done, maybe--down in the wood yonder--and when you've once heard it, you'll be quite content. Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?"

"I read it in a book", said Alice.

Then again Carroll contradicts Humpty Dumpty's interpretation in other explanations he gave elsewhere (though AFIAK this particular line wasn't part of that other explanation).

Re:Correct!

[Chacham]

(From The Annotated Alice "The Definitive Edition".)

16. The opening stanza of " Jabberwocky" first appeared in Mischmasch, the last of a series of private little "periodicals" that young Carroll wrote, illustrated and hand-lettered for the amusement of his brothers and sisters. In an issue dated 1855 (Carroll was then twenty-three), under the heading "Stanza of .Anglo-Saxon Poetry," the following "curious fragment" appears: ...

Carroll then proceeds to interpret the words as follows:

BRYLLYG ( derived from the verb to BRYL or BROIL), "the time of broiling dinner, i.e. the close
of the afternoon."

SLYTHY (compounded of SLIMY and LITHE). "Smooth and active."~

TOVE. A species of Badger. They had smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag; lived chiefly on cheese.

GYRE, verb (derived from GYAOUR or GIAOUR, "a dog"). Th scratch like a dog.

GYMBLE (whence GIMBLET). "Th screw out holes in anything."

WABE (derived from the verb to SWAB or SOAK). "The side of a hill" (from its being soaked by the rain).

MIMSY (whence MIMSERABLE and MISERABLE). "Unhappy."

BOROGOVE. An extinct kind of Parrot. They had no wings, beaks turned up, and made their nests under sundials: lived on veal.

MOME (hence SOLEMOME, SOLEMONE, and SOLEMN). "Grave."

RATH. A species of land turtle. Head erect: mouth like a shark: forelegs curved out so that the animal walked on its knees: smooth green body: lived on swallows and oysters.

OUTGRABE, past tense of the verb to OUTGRIBE. (It is connected with old verb to GRIKE, or SHRIKE, from which are derived "shriek" and "creak"). "Squeaked."

Hence the literal English of the passage is:

"It was evening, and the smooth active badgers were scratching and boring holes in the hill-side;
all unhappy were the parrots; and the grave turtles squeaked out."

There were probably sundials on the top of the hill, and the "borogoves" were afraid that their nests would be undermined. The hill was probably full of the nests of "raths", which ran out, squeaking with fear, on hearing the "toves" scratching outside. This is an obscure, but yet deeply-affecting, relic of ancient Poetry.

Re:Correct!

[lahi]

Thank you! After posting my incorrect correction (incorrection?), I recalled having read that explanation. I could find it right away in my copy of _The Works of Lewis Carroll_, although I know it's in there.

-Lasse

Re:Correct!

[Chacham]

Glad i could be of service. :)

Re:Correct!

[lahi]

I meant "could not find", of course. (I hope that was obvious from context, but anyway.)

-Lasse

Humpty Dumpties interpretation

[overunderunderdone]

"You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir", said Alice. "Would you kindly tell me the meaning of the poem 'Jabberwocky'?"

"Let's hear it", said Humpty Dumpty. "I can explain all the poems that ever were invented--and a good many that haven't been invented just yet."

This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeated the first verse:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

"That's enough to begin with", Humpty Dumpty interrupted: "there are plenty of hard words there. 'Brillig' means four o'clock in the afternoon--the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."

"That'll do very well", said Alice: "and 'slithy'?"

"Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy'. 'Lithe' is the same as 'active'. You see it's like a portmanteau--there are two meanings packed up into one word."

I see it now", Alice remarked thoughfully: "and what are 'toves'?"

"Well, 'toves' are something like badgers--they're something like lizards--and they're something like corkscrews."

"They must be very curious creatures."

"They are that", said Humpty Dumpty: "also they make their nests under sun-dials--also they live on cheese."

"And what's to 'gyre' and to 'gimble'?"

"To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To 'gimble' is to make holes like a gimlet."

"And 'the wabe' is the grass plot round a sun-dial, I suppose?" said Alice, surprised at her own ingenuity.

"Of course it is. It's called 'wabe', you know, because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it--"

"And a long way beyond it on each side", Alice added.

"Exactly so. Well then, 'mimsy' is 'flimsy and miserable' (there's another portmanteau for you). And a 'borogove' is a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round--something like a live mop."

"And then 'mome raths'?" said Alice. "If I'm not giving you too much trouble."

"Well a 'rath' is a sort of green pig, but 'mome' I'm not certain about. I think it's sort for 'from home'--meaning that they'd lost their way, you know."

"And what does 'outgrabe' mean?"

"Well, 'outgribing' is something between bellowing an whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle: however, you'll hear it done, maybe--down in the wood yonder--and when you've once heard it, you'll be quite content. Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?"

"I read it in a book", said Alice.

- Through the Looking Glass

Bah-Outsourcing marketing.

[Anonymous Coward]

"All the Flash-bashing on Slashdot has got to stop. Macromedia has done an outstanding job with Flash. "

I got a better question. Why do you feel the need to be an extension of Macromedia's marketing department?

Re:Bah-Outsourcing marketing.

[Anonymous Coward]

this is why i just laugh at slashdot-so many people so committed to their uninformed opinions they haveno ability to allow others to differ. Don't you think the internet is big enough to have all of these technologies in them? Really-is it a personal offense to you that flash exists?

Windows allows me to do stupid things.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Just another, "You can do stupid things in Flash, therefore Flash is bad", post. Wouldn't the better lesson to be learnt be, don't trust client-side code as security."

Hey! Windows allows me to do stupid things. Guess it must be bad. Maybe the better lesson here is "don't click on anything you don't trust."

Been there, done that :)

[cliveholloway]

First scene from Macbeth

cLive ;-)

I don't know what's more sad

[dorlthed]

The fact that I know the entirety of Jabberwocky by heart or the fact that I understood exactly how every step of the ActionScript code related to the poem.

I've never felt like as much of a nerd as I did while reading that :(

I'm still waiting...

[kisielk]

...for Jabberwocky in Brainf*ck.

Re:Get a dictionary.

[Anonymous Coward]

achronism is the absence of consideration of time. It's a different word.

Er, HERE is the plugin.

[drinkypoo]

And that's what I get for not using preview. Nonetheless: GPL Flash Library

gulp sselemahS | Shameless plug

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.ykcowrebbaj.com/

Re:Get a life

[heneganj]

Or a girlfriend.

Truce! It's a poem, not a battlecry...

[VeryVito]

Can't we all just get along? Turdhead.com didn't intend to start a war, so as a peace offering, we offer a more "die-hard" version of the Jabberwocky poem today:

The "REAL" PROGRAMMER'S JABBERWOCKY

Enjoy!

Lewis Padgett

[NaDrew]

This brings to mind one of the finest science fiction stories I have ever read: "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", by Lewis Padgett. Some kind soul has placed the full text online, though the "next" links are broken.

1. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy1.html
2. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy2.html
3. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy3.html
4. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy4.html
5. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy5.html
6. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy6.html
7. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy7.html
8. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy8.html
9. http://users.ev1.net/~holliser/Prescience/Text/Mim sy9.html

I first read this in story print in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume I, edited by Robert Silverberg.

Geek orientated AS2.0 books...

[mgcarley]

This sounds like a job for:

ACTIONSCRIPT 2.0 FOR DUMMIES

heh.