by Grant Skinner

gModeler Update

gModeler has been updated to v0.6.1. This version includes minor fixes including:

  • AS2 stub code generation now includes the return type of methods properly.

  • Online help works again.

  • Feedback system works again (or will shortly).

  • Version number is now display on the right side of the toolbar

gModeler 2 is in progress as well, but with the amount of work we have on the go right now, it’s hard to say how long it will be before it’s complete.

by Grant Skinner

Varicose-G Experiment

I was recently browsing through the SWFs and FLAs I’ve collected over the last few years because I thought they were interesting or unique. During my reminiscing, I stumbled on this vein-1 experiment by Mike Johnson from May 2002.

It caught my eye, and I decided to rebuild it in OOP, and spice it up a bit. I wanted to make it look like an old anatomy textbook come to life. My fiance thinks it’s creepy, so I must have done ok – judge for yourself though, the result is below (warning: it’s fairly CPU intensive, and requires FP7).

I’ll be releasing the code to this once I’ve cleaned it up a bit. I’ll also be talking a bit about how it came together at my upcoming conference sessions.

Also, to give credit where due, the original experiment by Mike was part of a 25 lines experiment. I’ve nearly doubled that for the Vein itself, and then nearly doubled it again to add camera motion, grids, and labels.

UPDATE: The source code for this experiment is available here.

by Grant Skinner

Upcoming Conferences

I’m going to be at a fair number of conferences over the next few months, so I thought I’d write up a quick entry to let people know where I’d be and when I’d be there (and to help me remember dates and places).

Feb 17-18: MXDU, Sydney Australia

March 9-11: FlashEurope, Barcelona Spain

April 6-8: Flashforward, San Francisco USA

April 9-11: FlashInTheCan, Toronto Canada

I’m running the same session at all 4 conferences (trying to preserve my sanity this year). The session is called “Object Oriented Procrastination”, and it has been very well received thus far. The description is something to the effect of:

Object Oriented Programming is commonly associated with application development (boring but profitable), but it can also be used to create less practical (and much more entertaining) pieces. This session examines the inspiration, architecture and code of a number of Grant’s recent multimedia experiments. Designers and Flash newcomers will be introduced to the basics of OOP and programmatic motion in ActionScript 2, while more experienced coders will learn architectural best-practices and hopefully be inspired to use their skills for more creative pursuits.

Don’t worry, I’m not a complete slacker (yet). I’m already working on a brand new session for conferences coming after those four (debuting in FFNYC perhaps).

I’m looking forwards getting together with all the regular Flash gang (you know who you are), and meeting up with some new people. Conferences are always a blast – and once in a while I even learn something new (when I slide out of my drunken haze long enough). I hope to see you there!

by Grant Skinner

Blog back up (almost)

As many of you have have noticed, we recently experienced a run of server difficulties, and I have just now managed to get the blog back up and running. We have successfully moved our sites to the ever-popular Media Temple, and are really looking forwards to utilizing their excellent (by reputation) services. I’ll give you an unbiased review after a month or two of hosting with them.

Despite the problems I have had with Netkeepers, I would still like to thank them for hosting us for the past 2 years, and in particular for helping us to make the move to Media Temple as painless as possible. You know a host is trying hard when they are willing to help you even after you’ve let them know you are moving on.

Updates on glic, upcoming conferences, etc will be coming as soon as we have successfully moved to Media Temple. Sorry for the inconvenience to everyone who has been waiting for news!!

by Grant Skinner

Code Architecture Wisdom from Dune

I’ve been working my way through the first 4 books in the Dune series by Frank Herbert. I find them to be a very interesting and thought-provoking look at humanity, government, faith, and the effect of power on the same – especially with the current political situation in the USA.

While reading The Children of Dune (book 3), I ran across a quote that I think is a phenomenal summation of my philosophies as a code architect and programmer. The quote was originally about “mentats” (basically human computers), I have paraphrased it, and modified it slightly to be about architects:

‘Above all else, the [architect] must be a generalist, not a specialist. Experts and specialists lead you quickly into chaos. They are a source of useless nit-picking, the ferocious quibble over a comma. The [architect] on the other hand, should bring to decision-making a healthy common sense. He must not cut himself off from the broad sweep of what is happening in his [application]. He must remain capable of saying “There’s no real mystery about this at the moment. This is what we want now. It may prove wrong later, but we’ll correct that when we come to it.” The [architect]-generalist must understand that anything which we can identify as our [application] is merely part of a larger phenomena. But the expert looks backward; he looks into the narrow standards of his own specialty. The generalist looks outward; he looks for living principles, knowing full well that such principles change, that they develop. It is to the characteristics of change itself that the [architect]-generalist must look. There can be no permanent catalogue of such change, no handbook or manual. You must look at it with as few preconceptions as possible, asking yourself: “Now what is this thing doing?”‘

– From Children of Dune by Frank Herbert (1976)

I really believe architects must take a generalist view. To be effective, you must be able to look at a project as a whole: code, usability, aesthetics, motion graphics, business process, project objectives, brand requirements, user profiles, stakeholder concerns, etc. You must understand that your specialty and it’s mantras (design patterns, OOP, et al) are secondary to the objectives of the project. You must embrace the fact that the standards and technologies you are an expert on are in a constant state of change – that what you know and believe today may be wrong tomorrow. Ideally, you should look at this reality with anticipation and even excitement. This continuous state of change is what makes this job / industry so much fun to be a part of.

Keep thinking. Keep learning. Keep having fun.