Confusion on "this"

Question

// AS2 code
this.firstChild.childNodes;
What does "this" object  mean and what would be conversion on AS3 .

Answer 1

"this" is the reference to the current class instance.
e.g.:
class A
     public function callMe()
          trace("this is the current instance of A" + this);
Now suppose I write a snippet of code like below,
var temp1 = new A();
var temp2 = new A();
temp1.callMe();  //"this" in callMe method here will refer to "temp1" object.
temp2.callMe();  //"this" in callMe method will now refer to "temp2" object.
//Inshort the "this" variable refers to the current object which is getting executed.
Coming back to your point "this.firstChild.childNodes", here this is refering to the class where the code is written.
I guess you are extending XML class to customize the functionality their.
Hope I am not too complicated.... Tell me if that helped....