package{

import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;

//abstract class

public class AnimatingProperties extends Sprite{

private var _sprite:Sprite;
private var _k:Number=0.1;
private var _damp:Number=0.9;
private var _scaleVel:Number=0;
private var _targetScale:Number=1;
private var _click:Number=0;

public function AS3CB(){

_sprite = new Sprite();
_sprite.graphics.beginFill(0×0000,100);
_sprite.graphics.drawRect(-50,-50,100,100);
_sprite.graphics.endFill();
_sprite.x=100;
_sprite.y=100;
addChild(_sprite);
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,onEnterFrame);
_sprite.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,onClick);
};

public function onEnterFrame(event:Event):void{
_scaleVel += (_targetScale - _sprite.scaleX) * _k;
_sprite.scaleX += _scaleVel;
_sprite.scaleY = _sprite.scaleX;
_scaleVel *= _damp;
};

public function onClick(event:MouseEvent):void{

/**———TRYING TO AVOID USING IF ELSE ETC————**/
_click++;

var b = _click >= 2;

_targetScale = _targetScale * 2 - .5

while(b){
_targetScale -= _targetScale -= .5 * 2;
_click = 0;
break;
}

};

}
}

Your visit is an honor, and I’m glad you could drop by.

I’m probably at fault for not clarifying better my attempt to look at problem solving without using conditionals. It certainly was not to save coding (or stuff less or more in a line.) One of the criticisms of the State DP is that it takes a lot of classes and coding in the absence of conditional statements. The whole exercise is a heuristic one to create better algorithms which I picked up in an OOPSLA conference.

More interesting is your comment about the equality operator being a conditional. I’ve always considered it a Boolean, but in an expression, I suppose it might be a conditional.

var x:uint = 5;
var w:uint = 7;
var z:uint = 5;

x==w evaluates to false
x==z evaluates to true

A conditional would be:

if(x==w)
{
    someVar=ture;
}
else
{
   someVar=false;
}

However, you’re saying that the equality operator performs a conditional, and it seems to. In effect the equality operator is saying:

“If a and b are equal, then send out true, else, they get a false”

This feature is masked because the equality operator is often part of the if/else statement.

Nice.

Bill

down=((int(event.target.name=="upbtn")*step)
     +(int(event.target.name=="downbtn")*-step))

It does not evade conditionals, it just simply rephrases conditionals. It still contains a “==” and that is a conditional. The correct way to express that code is this:

if(event.target.name=="upbtn")
   down=step
else if(event.target.name=="downbtn")
   down=-step
else
   down=0

You gain nothing by trying to stuff lots of functionality on a single line of code. In fact, by putting on one line of code, the program will always execute 2 conditionals (checking for upbtn and downbtn), but by using the “if” statement, it will only check the downbtn if the upbtn conditional is false. And it does not go through the extra step of typecasting a boolean into an integer.

A better way yet is to create a different listener function for up vs. down so that you really can eliminate the conditional.

var i:int=0;
var down:int=0;
var step:int=1;
var max:int=100;
var min:int=-100;
 
addEventListener (Event.ENTER_FRAME,onEnter);
 
function onEnter (event:Event):void
{
	upbtn.addEventListener (MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN,_down);
	upbtn.addEventListener (MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP,_up);
	downbtn.addEventListener (MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN,_down);
	downbtn.addEventListener (MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP,_up);
 
	i+=(down)*int(i+down<=max&&i+down>=min);
	tf.text=i.toString();
}
 
function _down (event:MouseEvent):void
{
	down=((int(event.target.name=="upbtn")*step)+(int(event.target.name=="downbtn")*-step));
}
function _up (event:Event):void
{
 
	down=0;
}

http://rapidshare.com/files/82584763/roozbeh.fla.html

I may have skewed the whole idea of substituting alternatives to conventional conditional statements with some other kind of thinking. I do not believe I ever said that this was an intention of State Design Patterns. Rather, they stood as a common example where state classes with a full set of different states could be found without relying on conditional statements. Jonathan Kaye had a great comment on that.

For a second (or even longer) forget about State DPs. Rather, consider problem-solving without using conditional statements. What are some different ways you could do that? This is a heuristic exercise to come up with better solutions and algorithms.

As for the “worst code” you’ve ever seen–that’s not the point. See if you can create any kind of statement that works to have the branching effect of a conditional without using a conditional statement. It’s harder than you may think.

Thanks,
Bill