[ Go back to normal view ]
BW2 :: the bitwise supplement :: http://www.bitwisemag.com/2
Fundamentals of ActionScript 3.0 Development and Design
Book review5 September 2011
by Huw Collingbourne
Fundamentals of ActionScript 3.0 Development and Design $54.99 / £36.99
by Doug Winnie
ISBN-10: 0-321-77702-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-77702-7
http://www.peachpit.com/actionscript3dd
http://www.compman.co.uk
If you plan to program Adobe Flash, you will need to master the ActionScript language. Fundamentals of ActionScript 3.0 is aimed at “people who are new to coding or are struggling with the migration from ActionScript 2.0 to 3.0”. The book assumes that the reader already has some Flash development skills – that is, the ability to create graphics and animations using Adobe’s Flash Professional (CS4 or CS5.x) IDE and now wants to learn how to program.
There are, of course, many books of Flash development with ActionScript. We’ve reviewed quite a few of them on Bitwise. But the books we’ve reviewed are just the tip of the iceberg. So before selecting a book on ActionScript, you need to be sure that it addresses your personal requirements.
Winnie’s book is specifically aimed at Flash Professional (ideally Flash CS5.5) users. If you use Flash CS5.5 and you either have zero programming experience or you know how to attach a simple ‘script’ to a frame on the timeline but not much more, this is the book for you. It takes you through the entire development process, explaining how to write and run your programs within the Flash environment. As with many other Flash books, its initial examples assume that you are going to be adding scripts directly onto the timeline. This is the quick-and-dirty way of coding and I must admit that my heart always sinks when an ActionScript book never progress further than that. I’m glad to say that Winnie’s book quickly moves on to the more maintainable way of coding using external ‘class’ files.
As the book progresses, the author explains all the fundamentals: What is a function? What is the difference between concatenation and addition? What is all this ‘object oriented’ stuff anyway? Bear in mind, if you already know how to program in some other language, this is not aimed at you. Throughout, the book is directed to new and inexperienced coders.
In spite of a fairly leisurely approach to its subject, the book manages to cover a lot of ground, including everything from the tricky details of event-handling to using external media such as audio and video on the web and even developing mobile applications using Adobe AIR.
I have to say I think the section on mobile development is a bit ambitious in a book aimed at novices. This becomes apparent in the rather hasty way in which ‘debugging over USB’ is introduced in spite of the fact that debugging has not been dealt with elsewhere in the book. This strikes me as the book’s most serious omission. In fact, the closest it ever gets to debugging is to encourage the user to add trace() statements. This is, at best, a pretty primitive technique.
In summary, then, this is a book squarely aimed at novice programmers using the Flash IDE. If that describes you, get it. If you are an experienced programmer or if you use a different IDE (such as Flash Builder, Amethyst or FDT) this book is not for you. The book is very nicely designed and illustrated with appropriate pictures and screenshots. Once you’ve mastered the basics of ActionScript, be sure to take your skills further with Colin Moock’s Essential ActionScript 3.0. This, in my view, really is the essential book for ActionScript developers of all levels. Moock’s book is certainly not for beginners, however. Winnie’s book is a much better starting point.
