Link: Adobe Alchemy, is it ActionScript heresy?

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Link: Adobe Alchemy, is it ActionScript heresy?

Posted by James - 12/03/09 at 09:03:56 am

This is a very interesting post from UnitZeroOne – “Adobe Alchemy, is it ActionScript heresy ?”

Alchemy – if you don’t already know – is the name of one of Adobes’ new labs projects – a method for compiling non-actionscript code into Actionscript Byte Code (ABC), which is ultimately what runs in the Flash Player.

This is very interesting because it means that it would open up a huge array of existing code libraries from other languages, and mean that they in their raw format*, could be used in the Flash Player. This is different to where we currently stand, where other code libraries have to be rewritten manually in ActionScript. So instead of taking the theory from one language and writing around that in ActionScript, we could just export for the Flash Player.

A working example is the DOOM game on Newgrounds: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/470460

That’s the original game, right there, just published with Alchemy.

Wow, but uh, back to the topic?

UnitZeroOne has delved deep into the realm of Alchemy, and come up with some interesting relavations – concerning such facts as Alchemy generated code runs faster than it’s ActionScript-coded equivilant:

Alchemy is proof that this is not the case. Here’s a bit of pure heresy in the Adobe church : Alchemy is a testament to the underachievement of the ActionScript compiler. Ouch. Surely, this can’t be the case, right ? Well, yes and no.

And the fact that Alchemy can apparently do things that the normal ActionScript compiler cannot – which is partially where the performance gains come from.

There’s a whole load of interesting information on UnitZeroOne, so I suggest you check it out: http://www.unitzeroone.com/blog/2008/11/28/adobe-alchemy-is-it-actionscript-heresy/

Posted by James Ford

Full profile: http://www.psyked.co.uk/about

About the author: James is a Senior New Media Developer at MMT Digital, and has BA(Hons) in Design for Interactive Media from the University of Gloucestershire. He loves designing and producing all sorts of website and Flash-related things, as well as prattling on about technologies. Day-to-day he works with Flash, Dreamweaver, Director, Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 (MOSS) and in his spare time he mucks about in Flex and Wordpress. Follow James on Twitter.

March 12, 2009 | In Alchemy | 4 Comments

4 Comments »

Alchemy has worked out to be a fantastic tool for us. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s a early look at a fantastic future for the Flash platform. Congrats Adobe.

Comment by Jim Phillips — 12 March 2009 #
Who can tell us some working example of Alchemy, free is better.
I consider to add some to our site http://www.racinggames60.com

I can not access Newgrounds this time.

Comment by susan — 9 May 2009 #
very interesting post

Comment by Mike — 12 June 2009 #
Hi,

Thanks for this nice post, i have found this post Url from my Newswine account recent news options,just subscribed your feed, hope you will update new post soon.
keep it up.

Michael

Comment by Michael James — 13 October 2009 #