ECMAScript for XML (E4X): Overview
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This summer ECMA International approved ECMAScript for XML (E4X). This specification adds native XML support to ECMAScript. Why does this matter to you? ActionScript is based on ECMAScript, so understanding the future of ECMAScript will give you a glimpse into the future of ActionScript. It remains to be seen if the next version of ActionScript will follow the E4X specification, but Macromedia has publicly stated that full compliance with the ECMAScript 4 Standard is one of the goals for the next release of Flash.

This article will cover a few highlights of the E4X specification including objects, initializers, accessors, and filtering. It will also show some examples of what the ActionScript code may look like when (and if) these features find their way into the next version of ActionScript.