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Learning ActionScript 3.0 The Non-Programmer's Guide to ActionScript 3.0

By Rich Shupe, Zevan Rosser
First Edition  December 2007 
Pages: 382
Series: Adobe Developer Library
ISBN 10: 0-596-52787-X | ISBN 13: 9780596527877
(Average of 3 Customer Reviews)

Book description

Learning ActionScript 3.0 gives you a solid foundation in the Flash language and demonstrates how you can use it for practical, everyday projects. The book does more than give you a handful of sample scripts, defining how ActionScript and Flash work. It gives 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. Written for those new to the language, this book doesn't rely exclusively on prior knowledge of object-oriented programming (OOP). Instead, it helps you expand your skillset by first focusing on clear, concise examples in the timeline, evolving into OOP examples over time-allowing you to choose the programming approach with which you are most comfortable.
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Featured customer reviews

The Perfect Gateway Drug,  June 16 2008
Submitted by pmilbourne   [Respond | View]

This is, quite simply, one of the best books I have ever read concerning the topic of Actionscript. As an Adobe Instructor in the discipline of Flash, I often find myself looking for books as suggestive reading for new learners. This book has now become my #1 choice for professionals looking to quickly learn Actionscript 3 from the ground up.

For years Colin Moock has set the standard for Actionscript learning with his Essential Guides to Actionscript. The wonderful thing about Learning Actionscript 3.0 is that it is openly and largely based on Colin Moock’s titles. The benefit to choosing Learning Actionscript 3 is that Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser realized the advanced technical nature of Colin Moock’s titles. They also realized the potential difficulty this may present to professionals with no prior experience. It was through this realization that they delivered a book that was as thorough in coverage but as easy to read as Harry Potter!



Great Intro to AS3,  March 27 2008
Submitted by Darren Osadchuk   [Respond | View]

For many designers and developers who use Adobe Flash, the introduction of ActionScript 3 was met with some trepidation. The perceived increase in the complexity of ActionScript 3 code compared to ActionScript 2 - including the belief that you must use Object-Oriented Programming to use AS3 - has led some to decide to stick with AS2. This is unfortunate, as AS3 has a number of advantages over AS2. While AS3 is somewhat more complex than AS2, it is not prohibitively so, and the time required to bring oneself up to speed with AS3 is well rewarded.

"Learning ActionScript 3.0", by Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser is, overall, a great introduction to AS3. The chapters are well organized, with a quick run-through of some familiar ActionScript concepts and code. If you've written any ActionScript before, you can skip this part, or skim through it just for some reassurance that not everything in AS3 is completely different from what you already know.

The subsequent chapters cover major aspects of ActionScript programming, ranging from graphics to sound and video to loading pretty much any sort of data. For example, the new display list in AS3 is thoroughly and clearly explained; as somebody still relatively new to AS3 I found this to be a pretty significant change to the way I think about Flash, so I appreciated how well the authors covered this part of AS3. And if you think that everything in AS3 only got more complicated, this book is worth it alone for the chapter on working with XML. These and other topics are explained clearly and thoroughly. The authors are both teachers at New York's School of Visual Arts, and their experience as educators shows through in their writing.

A neat aspect of the book is how it gradually transitions you into thinking about Object-Oriented Programming. For many people, the thought of having to do this with AS3 can be pretty scary. Initially, the code samples are meant to be placed right on the timeline. But part way in you get a primer on OOP. The book explains the concepts behind OOP very well, and gives the right amount of information - enough to get you going, but not so much that you'll get scared off at the thought of OOP. The code samples are no longer on the timeline, and suddenly you're working with object-oriented code, and it makes sense.

Those who are already familiar with AS2 will probably get the most out of "Learning ActionScript 3.0". If you're new to programming, and not just new to ActionScript, then this probably won't end up as the primary book you'll use to learn how to code. For example, topics that would normally get their own chapters in a 'learn how to code' book, such as variables, get only a section of a chapter by way of introduction. If you've already done some coding, this will be enough to reassure you that not everything is significantly different in AS3, but if you're new to programming, you might want something that spends a little more time on the basics.

In addition, the book would have benefited from another round of proofing. There were a few typos that, although minor, were a bit of a distraction. The typos that I came across were pretty minor - nothing that you won't immediately notice, but it's too bad that they're there in the first place. And to be fair, I think I noticed only about a half-dozen throughout the book. (By the by, the errata page at learningactionscript3.com (http://www.learningactionscript3.com) is much more complete than the page on O'Reilly's web site.)

Obviously, if the most significant criticism I can make of this book is that there were a few too many typos for my liking, I think it's a very good book. If you're looking to make the jump into ActionScript 3 coding, "Learning ActionScript 3.0" is a great place to start your education.



trongnd,  March 26 2008
Submitted by trongnd   [Respond | View]

thanks!

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Media reviews
"Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser have written a masterpiece and all other programming books should take note of its style and flow. Despite having beginner in the title, this actually a very nice reference book for even expert coders. I learned a lot of little things that I didn’t know before picking it up. So why do I like it so much? Firstly, O’Reilly has finally realized the benefit to publishing full-color programming books. All of the code samples look identical to the way they will look inside of your ActionScript editor. This really is a big benefit that is often overlooked in other books. The book’s approach to OOP is also very nice and is the least scary delivery that I have seen...For those devigners out there that need to make the transition to AS3, this book should be your bible. You’ll not only learn the basics of the new language but there are also excellent chapters on audio, video, animation, math, XML, bitmap processing, and more."
-- Lee Brimelow, creator of The Flash Blog


"While targeted more at beginners, Learning ActionScript 3.0 serves as an excellent reference to some of the most common tasks ActionScript developers encounter daily. The transition from the very basics of Flash programming to more advanced topics is gentle, but engaging. The full color pages throughout this book separate it from everything else on the shelf, and O’Reilly couldn’t have chosen a better topic than Flash to enhance with this wonderful addition."
-- Josh Tynjala, Zeus Labs


"Any computer library strong in web development titles in general and ActionScript in particular will want the beginner's guide to Flash, Learning ActionScript 3.0. It's an excellent introduction which also lends well to classroom use and assignment... ActionScript learners will find it an essential - and surprisingly easy - reference."
-- James A. Cox, The Midwest Book Review



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"The best ActionScript book ever written."
--Lee Brimelow, creator of The Flash Blog