User Guide

32 Chapter 2: ActionScript Basics
As shown in the following example, to indicate that a line or portion of a line is a comment,
precede the comment with two forward slashes (
//):
my_btn.onRelease = function() {
// create new Date object
var myDate:Date = new Date();
var currentMonth:Number = myDate.getMonth();
// convert month number to month name
var monthName:String = calcMonth(currentMonth);
var year:Number = myDate.getFullYear();
var currentDate:Number = myDate.getDate();
};
When syntax coloring is enabled (see “Syntax highlighting” on page 144), comments are gray by
default. Comments can be any length without affecting the size of the exported file, and they do
not need to follow rules for ActionScript syntax or keywords.
To create a comment block, place
/* at the beginning of the commented lines and */ at the end.
This technique lets you create lengthy comments without adding // at the beginning of each line.
By placing large chunks of script in a comment block, called commenting out a portion of your
script, you can test specific parts of a script. For example, when the following script runs, none of
the code in the comment block is executed:
// The following code runs
var x:Number = 15;
var y:Number = 20;
// The following code doesn’t run
/*
// create new Date object
var myDate:Date = new Date();
var currentMonth:Number = myDate.getMonth();
// convert month number to month name
var monthName:String = calcMonth(currentMonth);
var year:Number = myDate.getFullYear();
var currentDate:Number = myDate.getDate();}
*/
// The code below runs
var name:String = "My name is";
var age:Number = 20;
For recommended guidelines on formatting and parentheses, see Chapter 3, “Using comments in
code,” on page 77.
Keywords and reserved words
ActionScript reserves words for specific use within the language, so you can’t use them
as identifiers, such as variable, function, or label names. The following table lists all
ActionScript keywords:
add and break case
catch class continue default
delete do dynamic else