Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

Disclosure: I was given an early free access to ebook for a review

"Learning action script 3.0" book by "Rich Shupe" with "Zevan Rosser" focuses on action script 3.0 mainly in relation to "Flash professional application" referred to as IDE. The language is also used in AIR and Flex platform but the book does not focus on these platforms.

The book starts with architecture and features understanding in 3.0 version of Action Script. The prerequisite knowledge required for understanding the language is clearly and explicitly mentioned. Each chapter also starts with a brief introduction of the the topics that are going to be covered in the chapter, which gives an clarity of objectives reader should expect. Sufficient code examples are provided, along with side notes, which help adding important and best practices for the language.

At the same time the book is not probably the best for a beginner. The authors fail to get to level of a beginner, and many a times they get into some concepts which might distract a beginner. This book is definitely not the best for a beginner.

Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

The book attracted me, because it was short compared to other titles I looked at, and I hoped it would give me a quick start. However the technology described, namely AS 3, proved to complex for any short description.
I have prior experience with C and VBA for applications, as well as a year in private computer academy studying to become a designer, so I am not new to programing, but the book left me with more questions than answers. The approach is shallow, no fundamental features of the Flash runtime or IDE are explained, or even mentioned, security is left aside.
Overall, I could recommend this book to a middle\high school student as a start, but not anyone else.
My farther research led to me conclude that for a quick solution to an existing problem you should get O'Reilly "ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook", and for achieving mastery and becoming an AS 3 developer - you should go for O'Reilly "Essential ActionScript 3.0". The later book was my second choice after "Learning ActionScript 3.0", and I estimate that 85% of its material was either new to me, or explained in a much clearer way.

Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

I took a course in Flash that skimmed the basics of ActionScript and left me wanting more. Having picked up this book, I'm well on my way to completing the projects I started (that crashed) in an older version of Flash. The book was purchased for the office but I plan on getting my own copy for reference. What a great buy!

Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

After reading it from start to end and from end to start several times now i often use it as a quick reference, it is a very nice book, easy to understand if you are a newbie. It gives you the basics of programing. On the other hand it haves some typing errors letters that don´t have to be there, no big deal you can live with that.

Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

Perfect for explaining AS3 and its advanatges.

Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

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Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

I agree entirely with the 5-star comments I've read, but I was disappointed recently by being unable to enter the Learning Actionscript 3.0 companion website. What's happened to it? It was a valuable addition to having the book.

Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

If you are someone who starts your adventure with actionscript or you are migrating from older version (like me)? this is a perfect opportunity to learn AS 3.0. The authors give a very detailed description of this language. Starting from the basic programming like to be skipped if you are already familiar with it, you will quickly end up as an intermediate actionscript developer. The book explains the concepts of OOP in a very comprehensive language, and gives just the right amount of information. I strongly recommend this book to all of you!

Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

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!

Comments about oreilly Learning ActionScript 3.0:

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.