Michael is a freelance Flash developer and technical writer. He is the editor of Activetuts+, and writes AS3 game development tutorials on his blog. You can find him on Twitter, too: @MichaelJW.
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Creating little browser extensions is a great way to learn JavaScript. You don’t need to worry about cross-browser compatibility, you can make the project as small or large as you like, and you can fix problems in other people’s websites that bug you, specifically. In this post, we’ll create a short script that automatically rearranges Tumblr archive pages to read in chronological order – and we’ll learn about NodeList on the way.
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If you, like many Flash developers, are looking into using HTML5 for your web apps, you’ll almost certainly have come across jQuery. It’s a very popular JavaScript library, used by a large percentage of the most visited websites – but what’s all the fuss about, and should you use it?
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Merry Quizmas! This month, I’m quizzing you on your understanding of two popular formats for data used by web apps: JSON and XML.
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Stumped for what to put on your Christmas list? Or perhaps you’re out of ideas for what to get that special web developer in your life? Let us help! This bumper roundup of gift ideas is two lists in one: the first half is to help developers figure out what to ask for, and the second is to help their friends figure out what to get them!
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So far, we’ve got a never-ending stream of enemies that our avatar must avoid; one touch, and it’s game over. But so what? Since there’s no way to track the player’s progress, they have no idea whether they did better in their latest round than they ever did before. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to keep score, how to display it on the canvas, and how to let the player know when they’ve beaten their own records.
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As you may know, the Tuts+ network is accompanied by an online educational members-only site called Tuts+ Premium. We’re very excited to announce that Tuts+ Premium has received a huge upgrade, including a new library of courses, 27 top-selling educational eBooks, member forums, and a completely redesigned UI. You can check out all the changes at tutsplus.com (I recommend taking the tour) or read on to learn about what you will get from Tuts+ Premium.
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In the first part of this series, you learned the basics of using JavaScript and the canvas element to make a very simple HTML5 avoider game. But it’s too simple – the single enemy doesn’t even move – there’s no challenge! In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a never-ending stream of enemies, all falling from the top of the screen.
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It’s quiz time! This month, let’s see how well you know your acronyms. AS3, OOP, HTTP, OMG!
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Last reminder: These courses start tomorrow!
Artificial intelligence is a popular programming topic, with obvious applications in game development, and machine learning is a branch of AI focused on creating code that can learn based on past experiences. Databases are perhaps not as stereotypically cool to study, but still very important for any programmer. Stanford University is offering free, online, undergraduate-level courses in each subject. Read on to find out how you can enroll…
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Follow Activetuts+ editor Michael James Williams as he walks you through integrating Flash with Facebook! Learn to develop apps for the Facebook website and harness the Graph API in your external projects.
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