This is an English translation of the German interview posted here.
1. Colin, your book is very well known in the Flash community and is now
also available in German translation. What do you personally like best
about your book?
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I suppose in general I like the book's level of depth and accuracy. I really like understanding not just how something works, but why it works the way it does, what problems you might encounter with it, and the best way to use it. I like a source that's exhaustive, and I think ASDG2 is exhaustive. For example, the TextField class fills a full 62 pages of the book, making a great effort to explain some very confusing methods (e.g., setNewTextFormat()) and point out lots of little problems that you only encounter if you're doing serious development.
I also really like the second edition rewrite of Chapter 12, Objects and Classes. I think it does a good job of explaining object-oriented programming in Flash, and tackles some very tough technical issues with clarity. The editor (Bruce Epstein) and I must have spent a week alone perfecting the section on the prototype chain and issues with standard superclass assignment (the famous __proto__ versus new() debate).
2. O'Reilly book covers are known for their animal etchings. What do you
think about your cover animal?
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I love it! Really I think it's super. I remember when I first saw it, my friend James was with me and he said "Holy crap! How'd you get the Basilisk??" (meaning the geeky fantasy-dragon type, not the real lizard).
However, I didn't ask for the siren. I actually asked for a beaver (Canada's national animal). I'd still really like a beaver maybe I'll write another book just to see if I can get it. As a backup, I asked for a frog, just because I think frogs are pretty neat. I tried to convince O'Reilly to use the beaver by pointing out that Flash is cross-platform, kind of like beavers, who live in the water and on land. Maybe their decision to go with the siren was a compromise: sirens live in the mud most of the year.
3. When did you start using Flash and what for?
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The first time I saw Flash was while working as SoftQuad's webmaster in 1996. FutureSplash (as Flash was then called) was sent to me by FutureWave software. SoftQuad made a then-popular HTML editor that eventually lost out to Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver. FutureWave was looking for exposure for their plugin on SoftQuad's site. (As fate would have it, SoftQuad no longer exists and Flash is now an industry all its own.) Anyway, back in 1996 I didn't allow plugins on the SoftQuad website, so I didn't bother looking at FutureSplash very long, though I still have the CD.
The first time I actually started working with Flash was about a year later, at a web agency called ICE. I was part of a team that created the Levi's Canada website as an animated tavern (pub), in Flash 2. Around the same time, I created GWEN! and started posting technical notes about my experiences with Flash. That gave moock.org its first "Flash help" content. You can still see the Levi's site and GWEN! here: http://www.moock.org/webdesign/flash/sandbox/.
4. Do you have a favorite Flash based website right now and if so, why?
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Of course: STRONG BAD! (http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html).
And:
presstube.com (by James Patterson)
pitaru.com (by Amit Pitaru)
levitated.net (by Jared Tarbell)
Why? Visit the sites. If you don't understand why I like them, I likely won't be able to explain it to you.
5. What potential do you see for Flash in the next 1-2 years? Anything
spectacular on the horizon?
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No surprises here: I think we'll see more and more Flash-based applications. Macromedia is pushing hard in that direction, and I think that makes sense. With Macromedia Central, Flash is even moving onto the desktop. There's a very good chance (perhaps an inevitability) that the design and motion sensibilities you see in Flash content today will soon permeate traditional desktop applications. The question is, will those so-called "rich" desktop applications be authored in Flash or will operating system manufacturers simply build Flash metaphors into their own development tools?
As for something spectacular on the horizon, it's Macromedia's Flash Communication Server. Yes, it already happened, but in practical terms, it's still on the horizon.
6. Critics say that Flash is just used for gimmicks prolonging loading
times of websites. How do feel about that?
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My guess is those critics last looked at Flash in 1999. Today, no one with any serious understanding of today's web technology could responsibly call Flash a gimmick.
7. You are a programmer and also a very productive painter - what does
painting mean to you (in contrast to programming)?
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Personally, I don't think painting contrasts with programming. In fact, I think they're quite similar. Paint is a creative medium used to create a visual experience. Flash programming is just another medium used to create a visual experience. You ask "what does painting mean to you?" I've never risked answering that question. I also don't risk contemplating the effect of music or the feeling of standing in a forest. I don't dissect and deconstruct these things; I let them exist as instinctive experiences and leave it at that.
8. Do you also exhibit?
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No, never. I'm not interested in participating in the gallery scene. There are enough painters to fill those walls. I paint for myself and the people I know (many of whom
are the subjects of my work). The work has a relationship to those people that they would never experience from looking a piece in a gallery. Everyone should paint. Every home is a gallery.
However, I do post my paintings online. I prefer that to gallery exhibitions because: 1) No money changes hands. 2) The visitors of my site actually have a relationship with me through my writing and other work. 3) No institution "sanctions" my work or gives it a stamp of "approved art" by hanging it in a gallery; you experience the work without that prejudgement. And finally 4) I like the way the paintings look backlit :)
9. In some of your paintings there are German train and train station
symbols. Care to share the story behind them?
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In 1997 I went to Germany with my father to visit his hometown, Hamburg (well, Volksdorf actually). We also visited my aunt in Nürnberg, and I took a few days to visit a friend in Karlsruhe. The paintings were all based on sketches from that trip. Here's a little more detail:
http://moock.org/fine-art/two/
This was an underground pub in Karlsruhe, right next to the central beer garden. My friend and I "spent some time" there, and I sketched the waitress while she poured a pint.
http://moock.org/fine-art/two/9.html
This was a train station somewhere between Hamburg and Nürnberg. The train stopped long enough for me to do a quick sketch. From my Canadian perspective, the trains were really wonderful to look at. The older ones had such an sturdy, utilitarian appearance, with the matching heavy Deutsche Bahn logo. The whole rail system had such a stature of duty and responsibility. I loved each station's existence as an isolated, concrete island with travellers who seemed to float around the safety of the platforms. Incidentally, my grandfather, Eugene Moock, became a fulltime painter at age 40, after WWII. I absolutely love his work, and the shapes on the platform in this painting pay homage to it.
http://moock.org/fine-art/two/18.html
This is one of two paintings of Hamburg Hbf. I was struck by the light blue on the signs, by the number of platforms, and by the flipping of the numbers on the signs (which we don't really have in Canada). The signs really run the show in the train stations.
http://moock.org/fine-art/two/22.html
The other of two paintings of Hamburg Hbf. I think this one does a much better job of capturing the feel of the station
its necessary soot and grime, its expanse, the modern lighting amid the older structure, and the transience of the trains and people. This painting has the same style and palette of the Karlsruhe bar. I've never been able to duplicate it. Must have been a feeling from the trip that has since faded...