working on it. obsession.
jan 1, 2009
reading: inkheart, cornelia funke
taking things apart just to see what makes them tick can work for me, but it's not my favorite approach. i seem to have a "start from scratch" obsession, especially when it comes to learning something new; focus on the building blocks first, then visualize how they fit together (wasn't Flash created by someone who loved legos?). so, on the first day of this new year, it seems appropriate to briefly ponder on the effects of my obsession.
having originally learned actionscript (as 1.0) in the flash 4 api, and once again migrating to yet another restructuring of the language (as 3.0) since, i feel that my "start from scratch" obsession has allowed me to maintain a clearer picture of how things works together (or don’t) in the constantly expanding adobe flash framework.
ok, so maybe printing out the core display class hierarchy from the colin moock book, and taping it to my bedroom wall is a little over the top, just like using google maps to plan the route i take when walking my dogs. however, in both cases, visualizing the information at it's most simplified state, at the "scratch" level, allows me to better maintain my bearings during direct interaction. i've often found that such knowledge of the building blocks is essential when asked to jump right into the middle of someone else’s unfinished project, into another developer’s logic, and successfully produce a finished product.
oh, and i’m still working on my website. patience. i’m building it from scratch ;)
m.