Learning ActionScript 3
I had the pleasure of taking a class in person this week from David Gassner at BardoTech that made more difference than I could have predicted. He also offers some online training at lynda.com from what I understand, and I'll be checking that out. I have a breakthrough day on Wednesday and after class yesterday I got home and proudly told Craig all I thought I knew about programming and far more of it was accurate than ever before. The reason why is not just the length of the class, but the teacher and the other students. I wanted to share some of what worked for me in case you are trying to help someone else see some progress and finally gain some confidence in their code enough to not hate it.
1. Paraphrase constantly. Do not just say, "We are now typing addEventListener,...", instead say, "We need to know when a user clicks the mouse so that we can react. We have this class that comes with Flash that knows about all sorts of Mouse Events. So, we are going to be listening for that now.
2. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Not back to back, but at least 3 times in the day talk about the same key concept in different ways. Having multiple chances to understand really increases the odds to improve.
3. Explain WHY it is wrong when the student makes a mistake. Don't just say, "Well, you need a colon there, not a period." Instead of saying, "You need to move that code into the function above so it will work." you can instead talk about scope a little bit.
I am super excited because I went from everything looking like magic from the library to understanding about 40% of the basic examples (NOT complicated stuff) in 3 days time. It is the first time I enjoyed writting code. I am so excited to take a class on object oriented programming fundamentals because I feel like my weakness in that area is the most key factor that is holding me back. Once I get a little more understanding I don't improve a tiny bit, I improve in leaps. Any ideas of where I can take a good classroom Object Oriented Programming foundations course in the greater Seattle area? I want an in person course if possible as that is where I learn best.
I'm just so thankful today and wanted to share with you how much I loved my course! In other news, one of my co-workers has offered to think of an assignment for me to practice my ActionScript 3 with once I finish the 2 tutorials I have. Once I'm feeling more comfortable with writing my own custom classes and using what exists in Flash Authoring, I'm going to try learning Flex.
In other news, I'm mid-draft on my PNSQC paper and need to get the final revision turned in by Sunday. I'll be working my little fingers off this weekend taking breaks to meet Craig's sister who is in town from Kentucky who I've never met before.
1. Paraphrase constantly. Do not just say, "We are now typing addEventListener,...", instead say, "We need to know when a user clicks the mouse so that we can react. We have this class that comes with Flash that knows about all sorts of Mouse Events. So, we are going to be listening for that now.
2. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Not back to back, but at least 3 times in the day talk about the same key concept in different ways. Having multiple chances to understand really increases the odds to improve.
3. Explain WHY it is wrong when the student makes a mistake. Don't just say, "Well, you need a colon there, not a period." Instead of saying, "You need to move that code into the function above so it will work." you can instead talk about scope a little bit.
I am super excited because I went from everything looking like magic from the library to understanding about 40% of the basic examples (NOT complicated stuff) in 3 days time. It is the first time I enjoyed writting code. I am so excited to take a class on object oriented programming fundamentals because I feel like my weakness in that area is the most key factor that is holding me back. Once I get a little more understanding I don't improve a tiny bit, I improve in leaps. Any ideas of where I can take a good classroom Object Oriented Programming foundations course in the greater Seattle area? I want an in person course if possible as that is where I learn best.
I'm just so thankful today and wanted to share with you how much I loved my course! In other news, one of my co-workers has offered to think of an assignment for me to practice my ActionScript 3 with once I finish the 2 tutorials I have. Once I'm feeling more comfortable with writing my own custom classes and using what exists in Flash Authoring, I'm going to try learning Flex.
In other news, I'm mid-draft on my PNSQC paper and need to get the final revision turned in by Sunday. I'll be working my little fingers off this weekend taking breaks to meet Craig's sister who is in town from Kentucky who I've never met before.
Posted by Testy Redhead at 17 Jul 2009 
Categories: actionscript, flash, teaching, testing, scripting, mentor, programming
Categories: actionscript, flash, teaching, testing, scripting, mentor, programming
I am teaching myself actionscript and also Flex. I find it extremely helpful in testing. It's refreshing to find a problem in the software you are testing and then develop your own solution to it even if it's just a proff of concept. It allows me to much more clearly test another developer's solution later or even suggest a course of action (if they will listen).
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