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Title: Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide
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Manufacturer: O'Reilly/Adobe Developer Library
List Price: $39.99
Our Price: $23.97
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide by O'Reilly/Adobe Developer Library Well thought out and written ... | | This is probably close to the best book on Actionscript 3.0 I've come across and although I'm relatively new to Actionscript in general, it has helped me tremendously. It's well organised, well explained and has coloured code examples which really makes sense. I'd say beginners with a little knowledge would find this book invaluable, and even the pros could learn a thing or two. I'm a tough critic and 4 stars is a great score from me :) | | Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide by O'Reilly/Adobe Developer Library One of the best AS3 resources around | I subscribe to [...] which is one of the best investments I have ever made. They have video tutorials on all sorts of software and subjects, among other things ActionScript 3.
I find the book "Learning ActionScript 3.0: A beginner's guide" to be an excellent complement to the Lynda videos. The book covers some basic AS concepts such as loops and conditional statements and progresses into Classes etc. It covers video, audio and the stuff that you need to get started with AS3.
The only bad thing is that there are some minor errors in the code, but there is a accompanying website that gives you the corrections. It is hard to let go of the book and it joins me to bed, to my girlfriend's dismay. | | Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide by O'Reilly/Adobe Developer Library A total must have if you want to understand and learn actionScript3.0 | I haven't get to the end yet, but until now, I love this book, is really nice to read, the authors can explain complex matters so easily and just bring a big light over aspects that where dark to me before this book.
I am being able to understand so clearly the new concepts of actionScript 3.0 and use what they teach in real life projects.
If you want to learn easily, then this is your book.
This is the opinion of a graphic designer who has been just playing with actionScript 2.0 for long time, but never was able to understand clearly the Class concept, now, after this book I can, and I have to :)
Great teachers are the authors, thank you Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser! | | Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide by O'Reilly/Adobe Developer Library The more I read it, the more I hate it. | First, please note that many of the 5-star reviews are written by experienced Flash professionals, who already have actionscript expertise -- and that makes them poor judges of how clear this book will be to a beginning audience.
The book is explicitly written for beginners, but the authors often have a poor grasp on what readers know. On one page they start talking about "trapping" events. What does that mean? Who knows?
I have a good math background, so I was able to decipher the math chapter, but it contains explanations like, "A radian is the angle of a circle subtended by an arc along its circumference that is the length of the circle's radius (hence the name, radian)." What's the point of writing a sentence like that? Will it be understood by anyone who doesn't already know what a radian is? Has a math newbie even ever heard the word "subtend"? This casual use of undefined jargon happens in every chapter.
Also, sometimes they're just wrong. They say that a ball moving 4 pixels to the right and 4 pixels down per second will have a velocity of 4 pixels per second in a south southeast direction. No. The Pythagorean theorem (which they explain, badly, in the next section), says the ball will be moving more than 5.6 pixels per second. And the direction is southeast.
The book really is full of typos, and they're not all caught in the errata. It's necessary to go the website and download the code being discussed in the book. The files you download will have the correct code (though before you check the code, as you're reading the book you're thinking, "Do I not understand, or is this code wrong?") Unfortunately, the book sometimes refers to these files by the wrong name, so you have to figure out which file to open. That's really inexcusable -- how hard would it be for the authors to go to their own website and correctly name the files?
Another random, infuriating example of the book's sloppiness: on page 144, the authors state a line of code "g.curveTo(275, 0, 400, 100);". In the context of the chapter, the hardest part of this code to understand is the "275, 0" and it's the one part they don't bother to explain!
And as long as I'm ranting (I just threw the book down to come and write this), the authors often put unnecessary lines into the code. I'm left trying to figure it out, wondering, "Why did they put that there? Is it necessary?" so I try the code without the extra material, and it still works fine. But the authors never explain why it's there, so while you're trying to learn to read actionscript, wanting to understand the importance of each line and its relationship to the rest of the example, you're thinking, "Am I just missing the importance of this line? Or does it have no importance?" Learners shouldn't be left to wonder those things!
It's a maddening book, full of unexplained terminology (I just found the phrase, "dedicated canvas"; huh?), incomplete explanations, bloated code, and many, many errors.
| | Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide by O'Reilly/Adobe Developer Library I like it | | After reading the other reviews I decided to give this book a try and I don't regret it. | | Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide by O'Reilly/Adobe Developer Library Amazon.com | Product Description
In this book, authors Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser share the knowledge they've gained from their years as multimedia developers/designers and teachers. Learning ActionScript 3.0 gives you a solid foundation in the language of Flash and demonstrates how you can use it for practical, everyday projects. The authors do more than just give you a collection of sample scripts. Written for those of you new to ActionScript 3.0, the book describes how ActionScript and Flash work, giving you a clear look into essential topics such as logic, event handling, displaying content, migrating legacy projects to ActionScript 3.0, classes, and much more. You will learn important techniques through hands-on exercises, and then build on those skills as chapters progress. ActionScript 3.0 represents a significant change for many Flash users, and a steeper learning curve for the uninitiated. This book will help guide you through a variety of scripting scenarios. Rather than relying heavily on prior knowledge of object-oriented programming (OOP), topics are explained in focused examples that originate in the timeline, with optional companion classes for those already comfortable with their use. As chapters progress, the book introduces more and more OOP techniques, allowing you to choose which scripting approach you prefer. Learning ActionScript 3.0 reveals: New ways to harness the power and performance of AS3 Common mistakes that people make with the language Essential coverage of text, sound, video, XML, drawing with code, and more Migration issues from AS1 and AS2 to AS3 Simultaneous development of procedural and object-oriented techniques Tips that go beyond simple script collections, including how toapproach a project and which resources can help you along the way The companion web site contains material for all the exercises in the book, as well as short quizzes to make sure you're up to speed with key concepts. ActionScript 3.0 is a different animal from previous versions, and Learning ActionScript 3.0 teaches everything that web designers, GUI-based Flash developers, and those new to ActionScript need to start using the language.
Praise
"The best ActionScript book ever written."
-Lee Brimelow, Creator of The Flash Blog |
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