Chad Duncan said
Keeping up to date in software for work or hobby is essential for those with a drive to stay on top and continually improve their products or services or with just a desire to make their job a little easier. As arduous as a transition to an unfamiliar programming language can be, this book provides help for beginners who have had some experience with former versions of ActionScript or other similar programming languages.
From my own personal experience with the book, all that I can say is that the book delivered all that I expected of it which was to help me to better understand the changes made with ActionScript 3. Already providing plenty of information for a good variety of topics, the book further succeeds in delivering a pleasant presentation.
After reading the material, the book remains as a helpful reference. While it may not be easily comprehended by those who have absolutely no experience with any programming language, it is very convenient for those like myself who have.
Michael Ratcliffe said
I have to say that this book is excellent. I am new to ActionScript development and this book has provided me with an excellent foundation on which to build. The explainations and code examples given in this book are excellent and really give you a great overview of the language.
This is an absolutely excellent book and the most recommended by the Flash community.
L. Frisch said
It is so important that people find the right book for them. I am a real "learn by doing" kind of gal. Good at everything and master of nothing - I dabble. I am building my company an intranet, I make marketing materials (from our branding guidelines) using Photoshop, I might learn 3D modeling/BIM. So when it was time to suggest that we wow a tech-savvy client with an e-brochure, I told them I could get it done in 2 weeks, with absolutely no Flash experience.
Crap - I committed to something I don't know how to do. What did I do? I did what I always do - I bought a book! I made a whole stack at the bookstore, and sat in the cafe in the store looking through all of them to make sure I got the best book - the one that would make me successful. Some were very high-tech, one looked like greek, one was too cartoony and silly, and then Rich Shupe's book "Learning Flash CS4", the companion book to "Learning ActionsScript 3.0", just stood out. His tone was calm, the instructions were basic, and it included a book-long project with several major Flash components like embedded movie clips, kinematics, sound with controls, tweening. Pretty much everything someone might want to do, with sample files available at each stage from their website, to help check your work.
Any expert would say the book was light on explanations and detail, but when you are starting out, you need just enough to get it working, and you know someday you'll understand because Rich tells you so; sprinkled around are subtle encouragements like "you'll learn more about that in a later chapter, for now just do it this way" kind of statements. And at the end of each chapter there is a review, and an explanation of how what you learned fits in to what you are about to learn.
So since the same author that wrote Learning Flash CS4, it stands to reason that Learning ActionScript 3.0, which is billed as the companion book to the one I have, will have the same calm step by step approach. I already learned some basics from the first book, so I know what I am up against. Learning any kind of programming is difficult for me, and I am really nervous about venturing deeper into scripting, but I feel like I can't fail! With this author's help I was able to make a very professional presentation in under two weeks and it is a hit.
MahrsMusic said
Even after the first few chapters, the concepts are still not difficult to comprehend; it's the Actionscript 3 language that's difficult for me to grasp. I've been studying Actionscript 2 for several years now and always had little difficulty understanding the code as it related to the concept & end result achieved.
In this book there really isn't much math involved in these examples. But if you don't have extensive programming experience (I do not), much of the coding examples may simply not sink in. In my opinion, more examples and material need to be devoted to each concept for a 'beginner' to grasp the crux of the language before moving onto the next.
Don't get me wrong: it's a well written book, but not for a beginner with little or no programming experience.
D. Mauro said
What good are they doing you showing how to write actionscript 3.0 code when they can't even write the proper code? There are so many errors and typos in their code, many of them not even fixed on the website's errata, that as you're working along side by side you'll be constantly confused as to why your code isn't working.
I don't know what guide is better, it's well suited for my experience level, but the amount of errors is just too much to be acceptable.
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