Need help moving my code from the timeline into classes

Question

Hello everybody,
A few months ago I made a simple flashgame with the help of a tutorial (http://www.flashgametuts.com/tutorials/as3/how-to-create-a-brick-breaker-game-in-as3-part- 1/) as a school assignment. When I turned it in to my teacher, his biggest complaint was that the code was written onto the timeline instead of in seperate classes. I know virtually nothing of programming (dealt with agoraphobia while the classes took place ), so I was wondering if someone could help me move the code into classes.
Here's the complete package for the game: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xhjuhz04z8g129m/0nSwf1wngu
Thanks!

Answer 1

You will need to learn about classes. I suggest that for the moment you set your actual project to the side--but keep it in mind--and work on some smaller chunks. Do some tutorials and learn a bit. Then try and apply what you have learned to your project.
http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/2009/08/25/tutorial-understanding-classes-in-as3-p art-1/
Work on the individual bits and post more specific questions when you run up against them.
It will require shifting your thoughts a bit on how to design and structure things. For me the really key concept is encapsulation--the idea that your classes are self-contained and have very specific routes of communication for receiving and sending information. To achieve this you need to think about methods, properties, and events. If you've done regular timeline coding you probably recognize properties (x, alpha, htmlText, etc.) and events (MouseEvent.CLICKED). Methods is a fancy word for function. So when you do something like myMovieClip.gotoAndStop(5) the gotoAndStop is a method of the MovieClip class and that just means somewhere there is code like this:
function gotoAndPlay(frame:Object, scene:String=null):void{
     // code that tells flash how to move the movieclip to a frame
That is a bit of a simplification, but conceptionally it is what you will do for the methods of your classes.