under magic 2012 new rules is a discarded creature considered dead?

[level]

if a card says it does something when it dies does it include discarding
for example does a goblin arsonist deal 1 dmg to target creature or player if discarded?

[Arix]

No. The new wording doesn't change anything functionally.

[Kenji]

Just so we're clear, level:

"Dies" is the exact functional equivalent of the old wording, "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield".

I figure this was done mostly to save on space in card text, but also because it's fairly common as it is for players to describe their creatures as having "died" when they hit the graveyard from play.