Essential ActionScript 3.0: ActionScript 3.0 Programming Fundamentals

I remember reading the documentation for Flash MX back around 2003-2004. It had this big section about object-oriented programming and why it's so great. The idea of reusing snippets of code by arranging them as modular classes was easy to understand and get on board with, but it never stuck with me when it came time to build an app. That was partly because I had just barely gotten into scripting at that point, but it was also because you can't truly explain the practical benefits of of OOP in just a few pages. This book makes OOP tangible. It is a long book, and it goes into exhaustive detail. When you finish reading the first half of it, you will have seen numerous examples of OOP in action, and you will have practical knowledge of when OOP can work for you and how to go about implementing it in basic ways. When I started reading the book, I had never bothered arranging my code into classes. After I read it, I couldn't wait to jump onto my computer and start building a few classes for future use. Each chapter started off kind of scary as I delved into new, unfamiliar subject matter, but by the end of each chapter I felt like a bulb had lit up inside my head and I was beginning to realize I had powers as a programmer that I never knew I possessed. It also shed a lot of light on terminology that I had heard thrown around before but that I never understood the significance of. I'll admit -- reading a couple hundred pages about programming can be a chore. I took lots of naps along the way. But when I started this book I was just a guy who could write scripts, and when I finished I was on my way to learning some serious programming. You might wonder why the book is called "Essential Actionscript 3.0" if it is all about OOP. Well, in many ways the two topics are one and the same. I believe most potential readers are like myself. We have a background in Flash and maybe even Actionscript, but we are not full-time programmers by trade. In order to make the transition from Actionscript 2 to Actionscript 3, the main thing we have to learn is Object Oriented Programming. AS3 embraces OOP concepts much more closely than AS2, and if you start to understand OOP, you start to understand why AS changed the way it did in moving from version 2 to version 3. Even those who think that AS3 code looks unnecessarily cumbersome at first glance might come around and realize that its long-term benefits outweigh the cost of the learning curve once you start building truly object-oriented apps that run super fast. People with a background in computer science might get a little less out of the book, as you should already be familiar with OOP. You could still learn a lot about what AS3 supports in comparison to other OOP languages, but the majority of that can be gleaned from any documentation of ECMA guidelines, as Adobe is adhering as closely as they can to those guidelines. There is a lot of documentation out there about AS3's built-in classes, and Adobe maintains a pretty excellent language resource on its website. But again, for people who are Flash developers first, and programmers second, this book is an excellent way to go from AS2 to AS3. And if you find yourself drawn to AS3 programming and want to learn even more, check out "ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns" by the same publisher. That book will take you from knowing how to build OOP apps in AS3 to structuring your applications in ways that professional programmers have considered standard for several decades.

After having been tasked with developing object-oriented Flash applications at work, I started off by reading some of the more introductory books on Flash hoping to gain some insight into how ActionScript can be used. The introductory books gave me a basic comfort level with the Flash IDE and how it is used to create multi-media content. I soon found it wasn't enough though. After having trouble with ActionScript development in several areas, I wanted to find books that could help me take my skills to the next level. Thanks to the recommendation of a co-worker, I purchased this book. I am so thankful I did. This book is one of the best books on ActionScript programming. I would also consider it one of the best books on programming that I have seen in my 20+ year career. One thing I want to make clear - it is not for beginners. It is designed for programmers wishing to learn more about the ActionScript language. The rate at which you will learn will be determined by your areas of interest and your past experience. If you are just starting out in Flash, I would recommend a book like "Flash CS5 The Missing Manual". You'll get a good foundation in many of the core areas of Flash by reading it. It covers things in much more depth than some of the introductory books. When you understand the concepts it presents, you'll be more than ready for this book. Essential ActionScript 3.0 covers all of the topics it discusses in great detail. When looking for an answer, it may or may not be a quick read but the concept will be explained in detail. Some concepts require more time and effort to learn and the author does not try to cut corners as such. Learning ActionScript is in many ways like learning a new language. If you come from the .NET world like I did, a new way of thinking about programming is required (event based programming in conjunction with visual elements over time). This book has helped me to make the transition. Overall - if you are an experienced programmer looking to do object-oriented development in ActionScript 3.0, this is the reference you will want to have by your side.

This book is totally unlike other books on ActionScript, and that is both its strength and its weakness. First of all, the claim that this book could be used by someone with no knowledge of programming is laughable and misleading. Chapter One goes through all of Object Oriented Programming, including such arcana as page 22's "Access-control modifiers for instance variables." No one without programming experience can understand why or how this woud be useful or learn how to use it. If you haven't done programming, choose a different book. Other books begin with the Flash environment, and introduce bits of ActionScript on the timeline in an inductive manner: on (press) { amountPaid = Number(paid.text); amountOwed = Number(owed.text); } You'll see none of that in this book, except for Chapter 29, which introduces programming in the Flash environment. None of the code sits on the timeline--this is ActionScript as a programming langusage, with packages, and stand-alone code files. On the positive side, this book really does explain the language as a language, so for us programmers, there's no need to wonder about syntax, language features, error handling, etc.--it's all here. You'll learn how to create objects with their own events and listeners, about dynamic instance variables, about using try...catch...throw...finally error handling, and many other features unlikely to be covered in other books on ActionScript. Because ActionScript is specific to Flash (and Flex), the book does cover the events you'll care about: mouse activity, key presses, screen updating, ENTER_FRAME vs. timer, stage resizing, loading, and so on. It provides excellent information on sandboxes and security I did not know and does a good job of dealing with text fields from a programming perspective. So it does cover much of value in the Flash context, and that in more detail than other ActionScript books I've read. In summary, I find this more of a reference book than a tutorial. For the topics it covers, it goes into great depth. If you are a game developer or are writing a major application, you need this book. On the other hand, if you want to develop simple Flash programs and want to buy only one book, this isn't it. It won't teach you the simplest basics (putting stop(); on frame 1 of a movie clip) that you need for practical Flash programming. As a reference, however, it's indispensible.

This book starts with the concepts of packages and classes first, then works its way down to primitive data types and arrays. You have to get to page 153 to read about primitive data types! Statements and operators are not covered until you get to page 172. A book that purports to be for beginners should start with basic concepts and build up to more complex concepts, but this one doesn't. This book is not for beginners at all. Nor is there an easy way for an experienced OO programmer to get the gist of the differences between ActionScript and other OO languages like C++. The book is extremely detailed (good for a reference, bad for beginner tutorials), but leaves out at least one maddening chunk. For example, the String class is hardly addressed at all! The VirtualZoo example built in pieces through the book would be easier to follow if the author simply introduced its final, intended behavior in 10 or 12 bullet points at the start. The elements of its implementation in small pieces leave the reader wondering, "okay, how does this syntactical element support the overall application?". Finally, the author's preference for the cool GUI elements is clear, as he gives short shrift to the basic concepts.

I was absolutely shocked when I came to this page and saw that this book had anything less than a 4.5 star average review. To put it simply, this book is THE ActionScript 3 book. Period. If you want to do more than just dabble in ActionScript 3, whether you are a Flash, Flex or Air developer, you simply must own this book. It is full of good, solid, usable information. When he tells you that you should do something a certain way, he backs it up with WHY you should do it this way. A prime example of this is when it comes to datayping your variables and methods. If you are a newbie or basic programmer, this might seem like more work than is needed, but Colin will go on to explain why this extra work is worth it. Let me put it this way. I came from the design side of things. I realized that to do anything really amazing with Flash, you need to learn how to program. Flash/ActionScript was my introduction to programming. I hadn't programmed in Java or C++ or anything when I started with ActionScript. Thanks to what I've learned from Moock's books (and experience that has backed up what Moock has said), I've turned into a pretty solid developer. When I read other books on ActionScript and especially ActionScript 3, I now see so many errors and problems with the way that the authors do things, thanks to the fact that Colin Moock was my introduction to how things should be done. I'm not saying this is the only ActionScript 3 book or instruction you'll ever need. Hardly. But this book is the foundation you should be building on. To put things in no uncertain terms, if you want to do more than dabble with ActionScript 3, this is a must have book in your library. If you simply want to add some scripts to your timeline-based Flash projects, you should probably avoid ActionScript 3 altogether and stick with ActionScript 2.

When I set out to learn Actionscript 3.0 I bought a number of helpful books from various publishers, but, all of them left me with significant gaps in my knowledge. This book filled in those gaps. It is hands down the most comprehensive book on the topic that I know of. Cookbook-style teaching books will give you any number of useful code-based solutions to try on your websites, but, if you persevere with this book you'll have all the knowledge that you need to code your own solutions from the ground up. That being said, this book is not simple and straightforward... it is definitely comprehensive. It seemingly covers every nook and cranny of the language. So, while I don't hesitate to recommend that ALL learners of Actionscript 3.0 have this book on their shelf, depending on your capacity for programming languages, you will probably also want either a more introductory book or a cookbook. That being if you're either a total novice to the topic or if you have a basic handle on the language and you'd like to have access to any number of previously prepared solutions to try. At some point, however, you're going to have questions about what Actionscript can and cannot do, and this is where 'Essential Actionscript 3.0' is the most useful reference that I know of. Also, I have to say. My first order of this book was sent to me with severe printing flaws, rendering it 50% unreadable. I was skeptical about Amazon's returns policy, but, to their credit, it was quick and painless. I had a perfect replacement in my hands within a very short time after reporting the situation. So thanks to Amazon for that.

Essential. That sums it up. This books is a excellent book when dealing and understanding AS3. If you have come from various other programming languages like Java, C++ or any object oriented programing language you will understand the first 5 chapters easily. The rest of the book explains and gives examples of various other aspects, of the language that you will use when developing with it. I also purchased ActionScript 3.0 Bible and like I said for that review both books are great but some times one does a better job at explanation on various topics then the other. In the Essentials you have the option of going through the book and building an example program as you understand more concepts. This is great for beginners coming into programming if this is your first programming language. If you are not a beginner the book is kinda self explaining, which is great when building a project. Please be aware that this books does not means explain how to use flash or flex. The sole purpose of the books is to teach and understand ActionScript 3.0. This is the programming language that the Flash 9+ supports. If you are looking for a book on how to develop in flash or flex I suggest a actual book targeted at flash for flex. Know this though if you are a excellent ActionScript 3.0 developer you can do almost anything in flash and flex, which would take twice as long in the their respective IDEs.

For starters, the book is definitely not geared for beginners. The author jumps into concepts that beginners won't understand. I've been programming for more than 10 years so I had no problems understanding the content... but be warned if this is your first programming book. Furthermore, he constantly tells the reader to "jump to chapter X" if you don't understand something. As a result, Moock totally failed at giving a start-to-finish explanation of programming (regardless of language). I'd say that the first 1/3 of the book is pretty well done. The explanation of ActionScript's syntax is excellent. Moock has you building a "Virtual Zoo" application as you go through each chapter, adding new features to the application with each new concept... ...but then he abandons the whole "Virtual Zoo" application as you enter the second and third parts of the book. There is an appendix at the end of the book which offers the full application code, but it would have been awesome if Moock continued to illustrate how to use each concept in the context of building this application. Instead, he has about 1 1/2 pages telling you what he added, gives you the code, and expects you to figure out what the hell he did. I'll be honest and say that I had to skim most of the second and third parts of the book. With no reference to the "Virtual Zoo" application and crappy, non-real-world examples the later chapters are pretty dry. On a positive note, Moock does an excellent job explaining the details of each class he discusses. The definitions are clear. But because there's little reference to real-world application (again, in the later chapters) they're just hard to digest without slamming your head against a desk. If the book weren't advertised as a beginner's book, I would have given it 3 stars. It's a nice reference book for ActionScript 3.0 -- but I've learned more in a few days of searching Google than I did from the final 2/3 of this book.

ActionScriptを本気で学びたい人は読むべし。全文英語の９００ページ。内容は一部のコードが動かなかったりするので満点ではないですが、そこらへんのAS書籍と比べると圧巻です。

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!

really really good comprehensive book which I read a lot in my programming days. The old problem with Actionscript is that it is propriety code. iphone does not support flash. a good alternative to AS seems Adobes new development environment -> which is also timeline based. Inside it is HTML 5 and Java-Script, i.e. not propriety, i.e. any developer can join in on projects, not only Flash/AS expertised. Though I am really happy I am now not doing this kind of work anymore. ;-)

très bon ouvrage, attention, c'est en anglais ! nombreux exemples et beaucoup de détails! Chapeau à l'auteur, il a pris son temsp pour être précis et clair !

Originally, i was slightly intimidated to read such a large book about AS3. Having read several other books on the subject, i was already fairly comfortable with AS3 and therefore chose to read this book in the hope of learning details about the language that other books simply do not discuss. Now having finished the book from cover to cover, I must admit that there were several times while reading this book when i would actually say aloud "no way!" or "get the f*** out!" as a pleasant reaction to learning something that i just never knew was common practice or even possible. However, it is unfortunate that the book is now outdated and targets Flash Player 9, which means there is nothing at all about new aspects of Flash Player 10 like the Sound class or Vector arrays. That being said, because the book does give an insightful look into details that other books miss, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about developing in ActionScript 3.0.