ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns

Gentle Readers: Chandima and I decided to try something new. Pieter Grobler wrote a science fiction story to bring out the key elements in the Chain of Responsibility design pattern. We hope that the story will be helpful in grasping some of the main concepts in the pattern. Most importantly, though, we need your feedback. Tell us what you think. Should we run more such stories or not? Chandima and I will continue doing what we do, but we are interested in other creative approaches such as Pieter’s. So use the comment box to give us your feedback.

Conquering Ratas (CoR)

The Hissians are a peaceful people. For generations, they have had to stand up against a great threat – not from the outside worlds, but a threat that are inherently part of themselves. In the face of danger, a Hissian has the ability to pass on the Message – a telepathic sort of communication, linked to only one other inhabitant. To the day, it remains an inexplicable passage of consciousness between all living creatures of the planet. Yet, calling on this power exerts great physical effort, and has proven to be fatal in the past.

Recently, there has been an ensuing series of threats from the neighbouring planet of Ratas, the home of ill-willed, brutal barbarians. For this reason, a soldier was sent out to Ratas to investigate the nature of the threats. He is brutally killed and sent back home, badly mutilated. Accompanying the gruelling package, is a warning message implying that Hissa would be harshly punished for their offensive curiosity.

So, Hissa prepares for the attack by way of setting up a defensive effort, which is planned and rehearsed to the letter, based on sensitive information supplied by Irgir, a Ratasian student under the great Hissian Philosopher, Riughadas. The plan rests on the idea to have Yarayara, the old lady of Pagh, pick berries in the area where the Ratasian forces plan to land. Her magical and seductive powers will then subliminally persuade them to try the Paghiby Berries – a rare cultivar with poison so strong, that it instantly boils the consumer’s blood, causing a biological malfunction, which creates such pressure in an organism, that its structure inevitably tears itself up, obliterating all surroundings in the violent process.

But this has been doomed to failure since the beginning, for its application was too specific, and the foreign soldiers were in no mood for tasting berries. Instead, they prompted Yarayara to prove the planet’s good intent by eating them herself. As she knew her fate, she ran her veinous hand down the scarf that her daughter – her only family – had given her. Brutal murder followed as homes in the peaceful village of Pagh were raided, their inhabitants pinned to the walls, left there as dripping trophees of Ratasian rage.

Then, on a beautiful morning, soaked in a reddish glow from the Star, it happened. Young Eileva, a selfish and spoilt girl was waddling away from her mother in teenage rage, when she saw the black masses of Ratasian soldiers approaching. She hesitated, only to be swept into a primal, instinctive urge to notify her predestined successor – her mother. And, as soon as the Message had reached her mother, Eileva bounced on the ground, her rotund little body progressively accelerating down the meadow.

Her mother, frozen in her tracks, knew what had happened. She started shaking, fully aware that if her actions were not enough to defend the planet, she would be destined to pass the Message of invasion to the next link in the chain. In quiet desperation, she walked to the door, which looked out over the meadows. Silently, she felt the clutching grip around her chest, and sagged to her knees.

Minutes later, under the shade of the imposing crater of Irvil, the Ruargh, head of the Hissian Warriors, was addressing his soldiers – all of them thinkers and philosophers in their own right, as Hissians naturally are, but now dressed to kill. Just then, the Ruargh ceased to talk, and stood frozen momentarily in receipt of the Message, which has now reached him through the golden thread of predestined Hissians. The soldiers stood quiet in the red glaze of the Star, as the Ruargh urged them to remember: ‘Sometimes our peaceful robes are shed to the ground, as we awaken the dormant thirst for blood. We will not fight for the Good, for Good and Evil are but two sides of the same coin. We will fight for us, for our children, and for the Hissian Higher.’

Among the soldiers stood Irgir, covered in the coldest of sweats. His deep understanding of Hissian philosophy and history has had to feed his rapidly growing Ratasian hunger for violence. But as he stood at the forefront of the battle against his brothers, he was faced with the ultimate test of ethical strength. Partly due to his diligence, he had been engulfed by the Hissian Higher, and has also inherited the ability to pass on the Message. But the Hissian Higher had chosen his successor in a complex twist of fate – his link ran among the approaching Ratasians, that would greatly benefit from knowing the location of the Hissian force.

And desparingly, Irgir fell to the ground, as his loyalty to Ratas took over his body, misusing the gift that his gentle hosts had bestowed on him. And moments later, the Ratasians changed their course into the Hissian winds, which have now picked up, engulfing the red Star’s rays, fracturing it in a series of ominous purple dabs against the steep crater of Irvil.

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1. No Time for OOP and Design Patterns
2. ActionScript 3.0, Design Patterns and Polymorphism: What’s the Point?
3. ActionScript Proxy Design Pattern : The Virtual Proxy (A Minimal Abstract Example)