ActionScript is a programming language that was initially developed for Macromedia s Flash program in 1998. Web developers first used it for basic animation, but it grew to be used in the design of video and internet games. ActionScript uses object-oriented programming and is quite similar to JavaScript. It eventually developed into a simple scripting language as well. Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005 and began supporting ActionScript.
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash was once used heavily for website animation, videos, and games, but after HTML5 was introduced for web development, Flash became much less popular. It s still frequently used for computer games, but its days on the internet are coming to an end. Most browsers no longer support Flash without a plug-in, and Adobe itself plans to pull the plug on Flash by the end of 2020. Flash suffers from numerous security vulnerabilities and fails to work well with mobile devices.
Adobe Animate
Adobe s Flash Professional transitioned to Adobe Animate in 2015. It supports ActionScript, allowing users to add functions to their animation file with simple ActionScript actions. Users can also write their own script if they want to have more control over their video or animation, but that requires in-depth knowledge of ActionScript.
The most recent versions of ActionScript are ActionScript 3.0 and ActionScript 2.0. Though older, 2.0 is still being used. ActionScript 3.0 and 2.0 can t coexist because ActionScript 3.0 was largely a rewrite of the program. To run an ActionScript program, you ll need Adobe Flash Player.
