For additional notes, code example, and links see:
http://probertson.com/articles/2012/10/31/slides-and-code-concurrent-programming-with-actionscript-workers/
One of the most frequent and oldest feature requests for the Flash Platform is the ability to execute code "in the background." In Flash Player 11.4/AIR 3.4 (released in August 2012) this request was finally answered, in the form of ActionScript workers. This presentation covers why concurrent programming is useful, how to use ActionScript workers in their current implementation, and looks at the short- and long-term future for concurrent programming in ActionScript.