Realizing your Inner Geek
For years I have planned and quoted many Flash applications for my job as a Flash Developer. A few months ago I was planning one of these guys. I was mapping out flowcharts and diagrams with great detail and actually enjoying it. What? I never enjoyed this stage of a project. I’m more about preparing assets and getting my hands dirty in ActionScript bliss. What’s going on here?
Oh that’s right, I’m using UML to plan this project. “Oh UML, you bring out my geekiness like no other. But I like it.”
What is this UML talk?
UML, Unified Modeling Language, is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of software engineering. Say what? In other words, it’s a way to lay out your project visually so you can better plan and structure your project. If you’ve ever created a flowchart to show the different sections of a website or application, then you have used a form of UML. But it goes well beyond simple flowcharts. It’s useful during all stages of a project from laying out the sections of a site, to the inner workings of ActionScript classes and their methods and properties.
Lets see it
Below is an ActionScript class named ‘Monster’. We show the properties and the methods that are contained in this class.The minus and plus signs are to show whether they are private (-) or public (+).
