Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: ActionScript : The Definitive Guide by Colin Moock ISBN: 1-56592-852-0 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.82 (68 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: great for NON-programmers, limited use for MX
Comment: Firstly, this book is dated considering that Flash MX is out. Secondly, this book is targeted towards non-programmers, with little or no knowledge of basic programming language constructs. Thirdly, after reading two other "Definitive" books from O'Reilly, this publishing format is becomming a bit dull and is no longer effective for maintaining my attention span. A bit dry.
That said, if you are a non-programmer this book is an excellent guide to ActionScript. It covers basic concepts, language syntax and application. Experienced developers can opt to skim or skip the first one-third of the book, since the language is based on Javascript and builds on programming principles that are already familiar. Just keep in mind that the book does not mention new, changed or deprecated featues in Flash MX (Version 6).
One criticism that I have so far is the section on movie clips. The data structures related to these built-in objects are rather difficult to understand and this book, IMO, does not fully illuminate these details. It explains what the structure and behavior are, but for me this limits me to rote memorization of rules. If the book were to go a bit into "why", it would make this much more clearer for the reader.
As for the Actionscript the language (not this book), it is a very powerful adaptation of Javascript/Ecmascript, however I'm finding it breaks down when it comes to modeling complex class hierarchies. It lacks the convenience of other languages such as Java or C++, and you'll find you'll have to do a bit more heavy lifting to achieve some of the same effects. But because Actionscript is intended to be the "glue" that drives a Flash movie, its practical use will probably not often require such complexity in object design. Indeed, it seems to do a very good job of adding programmability to Flash.
Rating: 5
Summary: The ultimate reference book
Comment: I bought this book with a vary basic understanding of ActionScript, and now I would feel comfortable doing just about anything in it. I've got my copy stuffed full of post-its for quick reference because I'm always coming back to this wonderful programming reference.
Colin Moock starts you off easy with a gentle introduction of programming, but it quickly becomes a very steep learning curve after chapter one. The non-technically literate may want to try another book first. That said, it's brilliant and a must-have for anyone that's serious about learning ActionScripting.
This book is highly technical, and after learning to code with it, I suggest you give Flash Math Creativity a look to see what cool tricks you can do with your newly aquired AS skills.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good ActionScript reference book
Comment: It's all good... lot's of info, examples, details, etc etc...
I do have to comment though that everything you find in this book is EASILY found and sometimes in a way more deep and detailed manner in the Macromedia Flash Help section and in www.macromedia.com Flash support section... I would not consider this an essential book even though one feels secure to have it close...
 |
Title: Advanced Flash 5, ActionScript in Action by Dan Livingston ISBN: 0130931276 Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
 |
Title: Flash 5 Magic: With ActionScript by Scott Hamlin, David J. Emberton, J. Scott Hamlin ISBN: 0735710236 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 10 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
 |
Title: ActionScripting in Flash by Phillip Kerman ISBN: 0672320789 Publisher: SAMS Pub. Date: 09 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
 |
Title: Foundation ActionScript by Sham Bhangal ISBN: 1903450322 Publisher: friends of Ed Pub. Date: 20 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
 |
Title: Macromedia Flash 5 ActionScript for Fun and Games by Gary Rosenzweig ISBN: 078972524X Publisher: Que Pub. Date: 13 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
