Eoin Griffin » Flash

Useful hints: #1 – Odd/Even numbers (Modulo operator [%] and Bitwise And [&])

Eoin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:21:50 +0000

I’m going to start posting some useful little bits of code up here as i think of them.
This is partly to help with my exceptionally poor memory, and partly to help out anyone who might be interested. I encourage anyone else who knows of some similar little helpful tips to send them to me and i’ll post them up here.

Ok, so here’s a nice simple one to start off. What’s an easy and simple method to determine if a number is odd or even?
The answer lies with the modulo operator (%) or the bitwise AND operator (&).

i%2

Whatever i is, i%2 will evaluate to either 0 or 1.
Or a faster method for determining odd or even numbers would be the Bitwise AND operator (represented by a single ampersand: &):

i&1

So what use is this?

Let’s say you’ve got a for loop:

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for(var i:int = 0; i < 50; i++){
if(i%2){ // Or i&1
//do something for odd numbers
}else{
//do something else for even numbers
}
}

So why would we use the modulo operator if a bitwise AND is faster?
To take this further, you could specify separate code for every nth number:

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for(var i:int = 0; i < 50; i++){
switch(i%4){
case 0:
trace ("run every 4 iterations starting from 0");
break;
case 1:
trace ("run every 4 iterations starting from 1");
break;
case 2:
trace ("run every 4 iterations starting from 2");
break;
case 3:
trace ("run every 4 iterations starting from 3");
break;
}
}

Phone GUI project

Eoin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:10:18 +0000

Created as part of a GUI studies assigment. The task was to create a prototype interface for an imaginary competitor to the iphone.
All design, image creation and coding was implemented by me (with the exception of the Firefox and RSS logos).

Uses: Actionscript, Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop

Icon set:

Icon set created for the interface. Click for larger version.

Internet Storytime

Eoin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:45:05 +0000

Internet Storytime is a project I’m currently involved in as a Flash and Actionscript developer.
The goal of the application is to create a book player that will allow people with little or no Flash scripting skills to easily create children’s storybooks for an online audience.
What makes this player stand apart from a regular book or other online books is its versatility. The IST book player allows a person to easily script text, images with animations and audio in their books to create a unique interactive experience that will help them engage a young audience.

The instructions for the player are received from an accompanying XML file which I have designed to be as simple as possible, human-readable yet still remain robust and versatile. Flash is not needed to create or edit a book’s XML file.

This project is currently under development. Please not that the content inside does not reflect how the final version will look, however the code (because that’s what i do) is top notch

Uses: Actionscript, Flash, XML

IST Book Player screenshot