The nifty thing about using object oriented actionscript in Flash is you build up all sorts of bits and pieces of plug-n-play code to use over and over. It's valuable to have that go-to function/object that you can re-use without thinking about it. The more you use actionscript, the bigger your personal tool belt gets. If you want to give your tool belt a boost, here are two great open source actionscript libraries that you can use to do that. They both have a wide range of well thought out packages to include and both are nicely documented. You are sure to find something useful for your next project. The great thing about both of them is you can go in there and cherry-pick only what you need so you don't have to add in a whole bunch of stuff/complexity if you just want some little scripting nugget like a video player or a random number generator.
CASA Lib
CASA Lib is probably the most friendly of the two. A product of some people from the venerable Odopod, it is very well-rounded and easy to use. One thing that caught my eye right way was the event sequencing, layout, and the easy way it lets you bind events to typed keystrokes/keywords. It is worth mentioning that they do a great job of providng examples in the online documentation.
GutterShark
http://codeendeavor.com/guttershark
Guttershark has a more programerly feel about it and how the packages are organized but that is a good thing. There are lots of well thought out goodies in here. I especially recommend checking out the video player and the skin/controller class that integrates with it. It is super flexible and easy to customize. They distribute Guttershark via a GIT repository so, if you have GIT installed on your machine, you can pull the lasted version down using the directions on their site. If you don't have GIT or have never worked with a version control system, I have created a drop with a recent version of it. I highly recommend using the GIT route instead of the drop if you are serious about using it.
The online documentation is well done but lacks much in the way of examples. On the flip-side, when you download it, you get a lot of great real-world examples and source FLA files.
So, which one is for me?
If you're still getting used to the whole object-oriented actionscript approach, swing towards Casa Lib. If you're an actionscript vet looking for some more amo in your tool belt, you will definatley get into GutterShark. Both are full of awesomeness. Have fun.
More More More
These are certainly not the only two fish in the sea of Actionscript 3. There are several others taking various approaches. Casa Lib and Guttershark are just two that I have found useful and easy to use. Here's a good article list some others worth looking at:
