Comments on: We should always use Actionscript’s "this" keyword

By: me

me — Tue, 11 May 2010 03:30:59 +0000

Thanx for the book reference.
I found it, I am reading it these days.

By: Davide Zanotti

Davide Zanotti — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:33:12 +0000

First of all, I suggest you the excellent book “Essential Actionscript 3″: http://www.amazon.com/Essential-ActionScript-3-0-Colin-Moock/dp/0596526946/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273249748&sr=1-2

anyway:

instance: an object created from a class constructor (ie: instance = new Class())

method: a function related to a specific class and attached to the instance (ie: instance.method())

By: me

me — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:42:34 +0000

I still don’t get it, that terminology of instances, methods, etc. is a bit confusing.

Instead of what word was used ‘this’ ?
What would be ‘the wrong’ way to do this, like without using ‘this’ statement.

MyClass.myVar = myar ?

By: Davide Zanotti

Davide Zanotti — Thu, 06 May 2010 06:55:04 +0000

“this” refers specifically to the class instance

By: me

me — Thu, 06 May 2010 01:36:00 +0000

But what does ‘this’ refer to?
When you say~ this.myVar = myVar; ~what does that mean?

By: carlos

carlos — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:44:26 +0000

i think this is a very good jobe n examples

By: Michiel

Michiel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:08:34 +0000

Amen! It’s amazing how many people are out there lacking the insight of using this keyword. It also provides insight into where variables are defined:
[code]
package {
public class MyClass {
private var myVar:String='some text';
public function MyClass():void {
this.myVar; // using "this" shows the variable is a member of the class.
var someOtherVar:String = 'some other text';
someOtherVar = this.myVar; // not using "this" with someOtherVar shows the variable is declared within the method, either as an argument or defined locally.
}
}
}
[/code]

This is just something everyone should know and use. It also makes code a lot friendlier for others using the same file.