I have been doing some web programming lately, which got me thinking about Flash. Why is flash neccessary? HTML+CSS+Javascript put together using DHTML techniquies can be used to make basic animation on a web page. But ultimatly, they do not form a vector graphics language. That is where Flash comes in and that is why it is so successful. Flash supports vector graphics. Modern flash also forms not a whole application platform. Flash code is written in ActionScript, a langauge that is ECMAScript 4 compliant. I found a GPL’d compiler from Motion-Twin called MTASC that looks good. When I have a chance to sit down and learn flash, I would love to give it a try.