xiv | Preface
What You Need to Use This Book
You will need either Flash CS3 or Fle x2 to work with the program e xamples in this
book. All the applications were developed in the Flash IDE, so Fle x2 developers will
need to make modifications, especially where certain features were developed using
Flash drawing tools and components.
A few examples use Flash Media Server 2 (FMS2). The examples using FMS2 can be
created using the Developer’s version of FMS2 and can be freely downloaded athttp://
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/.You will need either a Windows or Linu xOS to run
Flash Media Server 2. If you have a “MacTel” Macintosh, you can use the Window OS
to run FMS, but if you have an older Macintosh running on the Motorola CPU, you’ll
need to have a LAN or Internet access to a Windows or Linu xplatform running
FMS2. Alternatively, you can skip the examples with FMS2.
Say It Again, Sam
One thing we can guarantee is redundancy. We know that people have different
styles of learning. Some are conceptual learners, some experiential, and some meta-
phorical or any combinations of those, plus others we haven’t heard about yet. So
you will see that we use several different ways to say the same thing with the idea
that if you don’t get it one way, you’ll get it another.
At the same time, we feel that by discussing the same idea or concept in different
ways and in different contexts, thespecificsense of that concept is better shaped. In
looking over reference materials published in books, articles, and online regarding
Design Patterns, we found that some materials were not quite accurate in depicting
some features. We worked very hard not to make mistakes, and so by providing
numerous contexts, we can help filter out what we specifically mean, and, equally
important, what we don’t mean. The ultimate authority is alwaysDesign Patterns:
Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software,and if you have any questions about
exactly what we mean, you can always check it out at the original source.
Over the years, a number of articles, books, dissertations and other treatises have
appeared offering suggestions for improving the original design patterns. Some of
these documents are quite useful, and even have the endorsement of members of the
Gang of Four (GoF)—Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlis-
sides. Others are not too useful, especially for learning design patterns, and tend to
complicate an already comple xsubject. As a result, we have not strayed from the
path laid down in the original text by GoF.