Question

How do I use an unevaluated (and/or possibly undefined) variable as a parameter for a function? For example:

function myFun(a:int):void {
    a = 5;
}

If you are familiar with Mathematica it would be equivalent to:

f[a_Integer]:=a=5
Attributes[f]={HoldAll};

The core idea being that it is the variable’s name itself which I want to pass to the function, not the value which is current associated with the variable’s name.

Answer 1

You can pass a string.

private function my_fun(name:String):void {
    trace(this[name]);
}

Example of use:

public class Main extends Sprite {

public var a:int = 5;
    ....
    public function Main():void {
            my_fun("a");
    }

According to these guys: get string representation of a variable name in as3 if it’s a classe you can get it’s name. If it’s a local variable you cannot, the reason is probably related with efficience (the name gets lost on compiling phase)