Product Description

More than two years in the making, ActionScript 3.0 presents perhaps the most substantial upgrade to Flash's programming language ever. The enhancements to ActionScript's performance, feature set, ease of use, cleanliness, and sophistication are simply staggering. Revolutionary improvements abound. "Essential ActionScript 3.0" is an update to Essential ActionScript 2.0, once again focusing on the core language and object-oriented programming with some coverage of the Flash Player API. Approximately half of the book focuses on the new features and functionality of ActionScript 3.0, while the rest focuses on changes between the 2 and 3 releases.ActionScript 3.0 is a huge upgrade to Flash's programming language. The enhancements to ActionScript's performance, feature set, ease of use, cleanliness, and sophistication are considerable. "Essential ActionScript 3.0" focuses on the core language and object-oriented programming, along with the Flash Player API. "Essential ActionScript" has become the no. 1 resource for the Flash and ActionScript development community, and the reason is the author, Colin Moock. Many people even refer to it simply as "The Colin Moock book." And for good reason: No one is better at turning ActionScript inside out, learning its nuances and capabilities, and then explaining everything in such an accessible way.Colin Moock is not just a talented programmer and technologist; he's also a gifted teacher. "Essential ActionScript 3.0" is a radically overhauled update to "Essential ActionScript 2.0". True to its roots, the book once again focuses on the core language and object-oriented programming, but also adds a deep look at the centerpiece of Flash Player's new API: display programming. Enjoy hundreds of brand new pages covering exciting new language features, such as the DOM-based event architecture, E4X, and namespaces - all brimming with real-world sample code. The ActionScript 3.0 revolution is here, and "Essential ActionScript 3.0's" steady hand is waiting to guide you through it.Adobe Developer Library is a co-publishing partnership between O'Reilly Media and Adobe Systems, Inc. and is designed to produce the number one information resources for developers who use Adobe technologies. Created in 2006, the Adobe Developer Library is the official source for comprehensive learning solutions to help developers create expressive and interactive web applications that can reach virtually anyone on any platform. With top-notch books and innovative online resources covering the latest in rich Internet application development, the Adobe Developer Library offers expert training and in-depth resources, straight from the source.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23461 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 946 pages

About the Author
Colin Moock is an independent web guru with a passion for networked creativity and expression. He has been researching, designing, and developing for the Web since 1995. Colin served as webmaster for SoftQuad, Inc. (makers of HoTMetaL PRO) until 1997, and then as web evangelist for ICE (one of Canada's leading interactive agencies) until 2001. He has created interactive content for Sony, Levi's, Nortel, Air Canada, Procter & Gamble, and Hewlett-Packard. Colin now divides his time between writing, speaking at conferences, and researching emerging web technology. He is a contributor to macromedia.com's Flash developer center, and has a support site for Flash developers (http://www.moock.org).

Customer Reviews

The "missing manual" on Flash
One of the things that makes me laugh (and cry) about Adobe's official documentation for their Flex 2 product is that it implicitly assumes that the reader is familiar with Flash. Given that Flex is supposed to be a development environment targeted at traditional developers (familiar with Eclipse and source code control and the like), you'd think that it would be a fair assumption that at least a significant share of the readers of the Flex 2 doc set would be Java, C++ or C# programmers who are keen to build rich clients in Flex.

I guess that other newcomers to Flash will probably have the same frustrating time as I did trying to figure out how (and when) the AVM2 dispatches mouse, focus and keyboard events, how the display list is managed, how to refer to the properties of a symbol instance created with Flash CS3, and how to draw lines and shapes etc...

This book is the essential "missing manual" on the AVM for developers who don't have a strong Flash background. Chapter 29, for example, is the perfect introduction to the Flash CS3 IDE.

A great 'user manual' for actoinscript 3
This is indeed a carefully prepared,well written book for people who want to work with actionscript 3. I already have some experience with both Flash 8 and actionscript 2 before reading this. But I can see that the author has taken the trouble to make sure that people who are completely new to programing will be comfortable with this book. Lot's of authors just promise 'this book assumes no prior knowledge' in the preface and by the time you reach chapter 1 the promise is broken. But this is one of those rare tech books where the author keeps the promise.
But that doesn't mean it is just a beginner's 'quick start' guide. Although I have flash and AS 2 experience (and lots of programing experience with Java etc - and as a result I ended up skimming through quite a lot of stuff) this was a very useful guide to help me get started with Action script 3. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to work with AS3. But if you already have some programing experience and don't have the patience to sit and read for long then the Actionscript 3 cookbook (Joey Lott ) may give you a faster start. It uses a purely 'hands on' approach from the start. So that may be worth a look especially if you don't need a detailed introduction to programing. But it might be a tough job choosing between the two books. I am using them both and if you have the money that's what I would suggest - buy them both!

This should ship with Flash..
This will only be a short review as I haven't actually finished the book yet!

- If you're a newbie to AS3: Buy it
- If you're an intermediate developer: Buy it
- If you've used AS2 before: Buy it

In short, it really is essential. Don't let the subject matter put you off. This book explains not only the how, but the why - something which many books with a similar aim often fail to do.

For example, I never realised there were two modes for the AS3 compiler. I had encountered but never used the [...rest] parameter, as it hadn't been explained properly.

This book will fill in the gaps in your knowledge. It covers AS3 completely. The only thing missing here is some really good workarounds for the Flash Player 9 memory leak issue, but that particular bug was not fully appreciated when this book was written.

Hands down brilliant!