Essential ActionScript 3.0 (Essential) by Colin Moock
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Book Reviews of Essential ActionScript 3.0 (Essential)
Book Review: Great for Newbies to AS3 with some previous Programming Experience
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book about a year ago and it provided a great basis for learning the language. At the time, I was really only familiar with VB, VBA, and a small amount of C++ and Java. Also, I had never worked with AS2, so this and Flash were both very new to me.
At first, I did not understand/have use for some of the topics. For example, the discussions around namespaces, dynamic variables, and the XML stuff just didn't do it for me. However, after using AS3 vigorously for the past 6 months or so, I have needed those topics (badly) and this book works as an excellent reference guide.
There are two things, however, that really make this book great. The first is how basic it stays (for the most part). The author is incredibly adept at making complicated things make a lot of sense. The second, specifically, is the discussion around garbage collection. What an important subject (and I had no idea how important it was when I first read this)!
I can honestly say that had I not read this book before diving in, I would not have been near as far along in the learning process with AS3 as I am now.
Buy this book. Keep this book. You'll use it over and over again.
Book Review: Good for beginners
Summary: 5 Stars
AS3 really came as a shock to me, because I never wanted to become a programmer. I am a designer, and I enjoy working with color and pattern. But, I needed to be able to use Flash CS3, so I reluctantly decided to dive in. I tried the online courses, I went to an expensive classroom with an Adobe certified teacher, and I picked up a couple other books, and all these things helped even though they also caused a lot of frustration. This book just states the rules in the first half, and it's tough to get through, but it's doable, even for a beginner, if you can take a deep breath and relax, and you need to read this stuff, so you have a general knowledge of how the language works. It's like learning a new foreign language. It's boring to read the rules of grammar, but you need to get the hang of it, try it out, see how it sounds, and even if you skim Part 1, it's valuable. Part 2 gets into display techniques, and you need these as well. Part 3 prepares you for entrance into a field of professionals. Don't give in to frustration. Just read the book. It won't be the most pleasant thing you ever did, but it'll be well worth doing. Given what the author was attempting to do, I can't imagine it being done any better.Book Review: Another great book from Colin Moock
Summary: 5 Stars
Essential AS 3.0 is the Bible of AS 3.0 reference. Very clear examples of everything ActionScript. Each example is well defined, and the code is very clear and concise. This book is not for the novice, but more of a reference for someone who has some programming knowledge, but wants to learn ActionScript 3.0.
The book has great example files online and it is another expert writing by Colin Moock. His explanations of the code are clear, and his knowledge of AS 3.0 seems to be endless. With the major overhaul of ActionScript from 2.0 to 3.0, Colin does a great job of relating the old to the new. I especially enjoyed the section on XML and the new XML Class and XMLList Class and the new filtering with E4X. ActionScript has came a far way from 2 to 3 in the handling of XML.
One other thing that Mr. Moock brings to light is the sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle references to design patterns and what to look for in your programming to make it more concise, flexible and reusable. He has made me look at writing programming in a different way, and opened my eyes to smarter programming.
I recommend this book for intermediate to expert level ActionScript programmers.
Book Review: The best book i've read about actionscript 3
Summary: 5 Stars
As usual , Colin moock how are great he is in writing books about ActionScript , Colin is well known expert and know by his expertise every single issue about flash and ActionScript ,everyone will notice that in this book , What I like about this book Colin knows when put his notes and define terms and he knows exactly when he will answer you before some question comes to your head , this book contains three parts first part contains core language and subjects related to object oriented programming like inheritance , interfaces , talking about topics that effect in Swf file performance like garbage collection, talking about XML and E4X , Events , the second part talking about Display and interactivity , this part talks about how to deal with visual objects specifically texts , shapes , Bitmap, and also talks about loading external display assets and how to use ActionScript to produce Animation , the last part contains three chapters talks about dealing with Flash pro CS3 and flex builder 2 .
Required for flash developers
Book Review: Evolved into the authoritative ActionScript resource
Summary: 5 Stars
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With this third edition, "Essential ActionScript" has evolved into THE authoritative ActionScript resource. As one indication, this edition as over 900 pages while the last edition had about 500. There are over 15 technical reviewers, including chief Adobe engineers. This book is the one you want.
This review is short since the other reviews contain a good description of the contents. I just want to point out for those coming from a conventional browser JavaScript background that this book is a real education -- and does it with seamless ease. Chapter 1 explains key concepts that differentiate the ActionScript context from the conventional browser scripting environment. In this and following chapters, Colin Moock assumes you are *not* familiar with detailed knowledge of object oriented programming concepts. Accordingly, he discusses these topics when they become most relevant to learning ActionScript.
This concrete approach is something most of us will appreciate.
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