I was wondering if to use or not the “new” keyword for classes variables and methods, because it’s not mandatory and in as3 examples is rarely used and when it’s used, is only to avoid name collisions (typically when setting a class property using a given argument), such:

package {

    public class MyClass {

        private var myVar:uint;

        public function MyClass(myVar:uint) {

            this.myVar = myVar;

        }

    }

}

However there are 3 valid reasons to (always) use  the “this” keyword:

  1. Is an excellent way to visually differentiate between static and dynamic variable (static variables can’t use the “this” keyword, otherwise you get a compile error)
  2. When invoking methods is immediately evident which is the class owner/target of the method itself
  3. Faster typing and developing thanks to Flex Builder hints (after typing “this.”, I can select all the applicable methods, which is faster and error free than type the entire method name)