ActionScript 3.0: Visual QuickStart Guide
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £4.40
Trade in ActionScript 3.0: Visual QuickStart Guide (Visual QuickStart Guides) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £4.40, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
ActionScript is the programming language integral to the Adobe Technology Platform. It began as a simple scripting language for creating interactivity and animation in Flash, but is now used to create full-featured Web applications, not only in Flash but in Flex. ActionScript 3, introduced with Flex 2, is now a full-fledged object-oriented programming language, and the need for teaching materials, for both newcomers and veterans, is great. This task-based tutorial is for students with no programming experience as well as those programmers who have learned earlier versions of the programming language and now need to learn the new version. The book walks a reader through all the fundamentals, then moves on to creating interactivity, working with data, looping and decision making, programming visualizations, and working with multimedia. It's a complete end-to-end tutorial.
From the Back Cover
ActionScript is the programming language integral to the Adobe Technology Platform. It began as a simple scripting language for creating interactivity and animation in Flash, but is now used to create full-featured Web applications, not only in Flash but in Flex. ActionScript 3, introduced with Flex 2, is now a full-fledged object-oriented programming language, and the need for teaching materials, for both newcomers and veterans, is great. This task-based tutorial is for students with no programming experience as well as those programmers who have learned earlier versions of the programming language and now need to learn the new version. The book walks a reader through all the fundamentals, then moves on to creating interactivity, working with data, looping and decision making, programming visualizations, and working with multimedia. It's a complete end-to-end tutorial.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a Flash Animator rather than a Flash Developer I've found this quickstart guide to Actionscript 3.0 great to get to grips with the programming concepts and syntax of Actionscript. Despite some negatives it has given me a lot more confidence in moving forward with Flash.
My disappointment with the book is just how poorly it has been proof-read. Every chapter there are typically 2 to 3 errors in the examples code. It's possible to spot most of these as you type them in as you quickly learn Actionscript's syntax but I still feel it hinders the readers progress and on the odd occasion when I couldn't get code to run correctly it had me skipping over parts of the book until I found another part I felt I could confidently get a handle on.
My disappointment with the book is just how poorly it has been proof-read. Every chapter there are typically 2 to 3 errors in the examples code. It's possible to spot most of these as you type them in as you quickly learn Actionscript's syntax but I still feel it hinders the readers progress and on the odd occasion when I couldn't get code to run correctly it had me skipping over parts of the book until I found another part I felt I could confidently get a handle on.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Concise, clear, easy to follow instructions with simple examples to build upon. You will find no traces of Martian or Esperanto in this book - this is English at its best, using relatable analogies to explain new concepts! Whilst this book helps to update and consolidate previous ActionScript 2.0 editors, it is an optimum introduction to those who are new to the topic. A comprehensive guide, relevant and resourceful.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
12 reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Finally, the right balance of information for me!
6 Dec 2008
Format:Paperback
I've been an intermediate Flash guy for years. The simplicity of ActionScript 1 and 2 made them easy to grasp for all the basics, but the limitations were also abundantly clear.
When ActionScript 3 debuted, I was excited that it had finally become a "real" programming language. But despite being a programmer since before there was an Internet, I found much of ActionScript 3 to be confusing, and honestly, intimidating.
I tried doing it on my own, and I tried other books. But they were either too focused on the language itself and lacked context for the sorts of real-world tasks one does in Flash, or they didn't go deeply enough. ActionScript 3.0 Visual Quickstart Guide finally struck the right balance -- at least for me, and my learning style.
As a programmer, I didn't need to be spoon-fed the basics of variables and control structures. But as a UI guy, I also needed practical, real-world examples like working with dynamic text, interfacing with the outside world, and loading assets.
Quite literally within minutes, I was able to use the straightforward, clear examples and explanations to whip-out Flash movies with ActionScript 3.0 handling the heavy lifting, and finally achieve some things I'd be struggling for months to learn through searching for code examples found online.
Two things are clear from reading the book, however:
1. While the book does cover the basics, people completely new to programming are probably going to be more lost than anything. This is a small book, and the content is relatively brief. If you want your hand held from a standing non-programmer start all the way to ActionScript expert, this probably is not your book. You should understand what programming is, and basic concepts (like variables and control) before you start. This book will help you connect that knowledge to ActionScript 3.
2. You're not going to become the world ActionScript 3 expert by reading this book. You'll get a superb foundation that will give the typical Flash designer/programmer everything they need, and a range of core knowledge that you can augment with some of the "deeper" books, web searches, or just plain reading the Flash manual. But I suspect that most readers, like me, will come out of this book with the stuff you really need for most real-world Flash work.
In summary, the book is well planned out, well written, and the examples -- every single one I tried -- worked as written, free of the typos, errors and omissions that seem to plague other ActionScript 3 books (based on reading reviews here at Amazon.com, anyway).
While your mileage may well vary, for me, for my learning style, and for someone of my experience level, this book was perfect, and finally (FINALLY!) the ActionScript 3 guide I was looking for.
When ActionScript 3 debuted, I was excited that it had finally become a "real" programming language. But despite being a programmer since before there was an Internet, I found much of ActionScript 3 to be confusing, and honestly, intimidating.
I tried doing it on my own, and I tried other books. But they were either too focused on the language itself and lacked context for the sorts of real-world tasks one does in Flash, or they didn't go deeply enough. ActionScript 3.0 Visual Quickstart Guide finally struck the right balance -- at least for me, and my learning style.
As a programmer, I didn't need to be spoon-fed the basics of variables and control structures. But as a UI guy, I also needed practical, real-world examples like working with dynamic text, interfacing with the outside world, and loading assets.
Quite literally within minutes, I was able to use the straightforward, clear examples and explanations to whip-out Flash movies with ActionScript 3.0 handling the heavy lifting, and finally achieve some things I'd be struggling for months to learn through searching for code examples found online.
Two things are clear from reading the book, however:
1. While the book does cover the basics, people completely new to programming are probably going to be more lost than anything. This is a small book, and the content is relatively brief. If you want your hand held from a standing non-programmer start all the way to ActionScript expert, this probably is not your book. You should understand what programming is, and basic concepts (like variables and control) before you start. This book will help you connect that knowledge to ActionScript 3.
2. You're not going to become the world ActionScript 3 expert by reading this book. You'll get a superb foundation that will give the typical Flash designer/programmer everything they need, and a range of core knowledge that you can augment with some of the "deeper" books, web searches, or just plain reading the Flash manual. But I suspect that most readers, like me, will come out of this book with the stuff you really need for most real-world Flash work.
In summary, the book is well planned out, well written, and the examples -- every single one I tried -- worked as written, free of the typos, errors and omissions that seem to plague other ActionScript 3 books (based on reading reviews here at Amazon.com, anyway).
While your mileage may well vary, for me, for my learning style, and for someone of my experience level, this book was perfect, and finally (FINALLY!) the ActionScript 3 guide I was looking for.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
The one for Designers
14 Jan 2009
Format:Paperback
I bought the three main actionscript 3.0 books out there and this is the one I should have started with. Unlike the other two, this one is actually aimed at those of us who are predominantly visual designers and who are migrating from 2.0 to 3.0. Because I taught myself 2.0, I had a bunch of bad practices which probably made the jump to 3.0 even more daunting. This book starts out simply and builds upon itself in a manner that is never intimidating. The 'Learning Actionscript' book is much more suited to programmers who are moving into flash. This book is best for flash or visual designers who are migrating and just want to be able to program in 3.0. 'Essential Actionscript' seems best for after you've already become comfortable and need an extensive reference guide.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Great reference manual for quick answers
12 Oct 2008
Format:Paperback
This book by Derrick Ypenburg is a great reference manual for the seasoned Flash and ActionScript programmer and a good starter book for the novice. With the upgrade to ActionScript 3, many Flash programmers have found it easier to make the move from ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3 by going back to the beginning and learning ActionScript 3 from the basics forward. In this book, the author does just that for his audience. Because the book is divided into small sections of information with step-by-step exercises, even the novice will not become overwhelmed. Throughout the book, the author assumes that the reader has a basic knowledge of Flash and therefore the book concentrates on the latest ActionScript 3 techniques.
The author begins with the basics of Dot syntax and then moves on to the individual components of OOP such as variables, methods, functions, classes and objects and their unique relationship with Flash objects, instances and hierarchy. He also covers basic programming tasks including commenting code, testing and error handling. Dynamic text fields and user input are important to Flash interactivity. The author discusses the relationship between the TextField object and the Event model. He not only covers how to use the MouseEvent and KeyboardEvent classes to create dynamic input fields in response to user interactivity but also how to format text and embed fonts in Flash. Next, he discusses the Math class and how it is the backbone of a dynamic, randomly changing Flash layout. Other topics related to dynamic Flash that were covered in the book are data storage and retrieval, conditional and looping logic, HTTP requests, Get and Post methods and loading external assets with the Loader class. At the end of the book is the fun topics such as the Shape class and Drawing API, blend modes, filters, Tweening, transitions, sound and video playback.
Derrick Ypenburg is an expert in rich media applications for Flash. He has worked with many top design firms. He also lectures and authors books and articles on Flash and ActionScript. The supporting files for the book can be downloaded from the author's website.
The author begins with the basics of Dot syntax and then moves on to the individual components of OOP such as variables, methods, functions, classes and objects and their unique relationship with Flash objects, instances and hierarchy. He also covers basic programming tasks including commenting code, testing and error handling. Dynamic text fields and user input are important to Flash interactivity. The author discusses the relationship between the TextField object and the Event model. He not only covers how to use the MouseEvent and KeyboardEvent classes to create dynamic input fields in response to user interactivity but also how to format text and embed fonts in Flash. Next, he discusses the Math class and how it is the backbone of a dynamic, randomly changing Flash layout. Other topics related to dynamic Flash that were covered in the book are data storage and retrieval, conditional and looping logic, HTTP requests, Get and Post methods and loading external assets with the Loader class. At the end of the book is the fun topics such as the Shape class and Drawing API, blend modes, filters, Tweening, transitions, sound and video playback.
Derrick Ypenburg is an expert in rich media applications for Flash. He has worked with many top design firms. He also lectures and authors books and articles on Flash and ActionScript. The supporting files for the book can be downloaded from the author's website.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Design Studies > Graphic Design
- Books > Computing & Internet > Digital Lifestyle > Online Shopping > Amazon
- Books > Computing & Internet > Digital Video > Beginners
- Books > Computing & Internet > New to Computing > Guidebook Series > Visual QuickStart Guide
- Books > Computing & Internet > Programming > Introduction to Programming > Flash
- Books > Computing & Internet > Programming > Languages & Tools
- Books > Computing & Internet > Web Development > Web Design > Web Graphics & Animation
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
