20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It ramped me up fast, 28 Jan 2007
By David R. Harper - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adobe Flex 2: Training from the Source (Paperback)
I am only halfway through this book but, after less than two days, it helped me create a simple Flex 2 application. I am proficient in Flash 8 and ActionScript 2, but I struggled a bit with the Flex framework. The two negative reviews are strange. You cannot call this low book "low quality." I've done every exercise up to the halfway point - and I haven't found a single error! The guy who reports typos is just wrong (i.e., "end <tag>" implies "</tag>". This won't give you trouble...), the ones he cites are not.
Also, I don't quite understand the point of the reviewer who would prefer a "conceptual method." I don't know about you, but my goal is to learn how to use the tool...doing concrete exercises is a terrific way to learn concepts. Especially in the flex framework, a concept sounds good until you try and code it. I learn much better with examples. Also, the focus here is not ActionScript 3.0, rather it's about the Flex development environment. I like AS so I sort of resisted Flex, but wow, it's really powerful - I can't believe how easy it is to do some things.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Instruction and Training, 28 Mar 2007
By Maxum "Maxum Xaxum, LLC" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adobe Flex 2: Training from the Source (Paperback)
We've spent $3000+ getting introductory courses into this software, and this book may have done the trick. I'm still glad I had the courses because they gave me some instant leverage. But I didn't walk away with knowledge in areas that were absolutely important.
For instance, my class didn't cover anything on the combo/drop down boxes and how to get them to connect to outside data sources, such as a XML file. HOWEVER, this book had several samples on connecting to various data sources with combo boxes.
This book is a life saver. Combo boxes play a big role in my apps.
Anyway, it "walks you through the process." According to some who've bought the book, it seems tedious. But the programming language is very specific and very detailed. This book explains everything in a rational step by step manner, and informing you of relevant things which are associated with the lesson. So if your working in the combo-box area for instance, the book will also give you detailed pointers on data services... not just the combo box. (Data services is a term we use in flex to describe how we connect to data, servers, or some scripts to execute a command...)
Also, the book is set up so I can either get something quickly to do something specific, or I can go through the lesson. VERY HANDY. Each chapter also tells you how long the lesson will take. Great for planning your training.
I hesistated buying this book because of the reviews I read until I had no choice but to buy it because none of my expensive 'authorized' training manuals gave me the critical information I needed. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE.
This is your best source for information. Make no mistake about that.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Resource for Flex 2 Developers, 25 Jan 2007
By Kirk Holbrook - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adobe Flex 2: Training from the Source (Paperback)
Wow! I'd recommend this to anyone using Flex 2. The authors have done an amazing job with presenting concepts in a well-organized and compelling manner. The book follows the development of a fictional, on-line grocery store. I rarely follow these step-by-step books as the authors intended, but the concepts in this book evolve as the store is developed, and the exercises are clear and concise. I followed the book right through from beginning to end.
I've been developing a significant project with Flex 2 for the past 8 months. I'm not a newbie as far as Flex or ActionScript are concerned, but I got a lot of really useful information out of this book. Some reaffirmed what I've been doing, while others gave me tweaks (and a few outright "So THAT's the way to handle that!" moments).
The book does a great job at describing how and why to do most tasks in Flex 2. Looking for a tutorial on how to work with HTTP calls? How about data sets, events, custom components, charting, styles, skins, transitions, printing, shared object, or debugging? They're all in there, as well as a few similar exercises done with ActionScript vs. MXML.
The one drawback I see here is in the area of Flex Data Services (FDS). Personally, I think they could have dropped the limited introduction to the many advanced features of FDS and published a separate book on that (which hopefully Adobe Press will do anyway).
The book includes a CD-ROM with a preset, developer copy of ColdFusion to work through some of the exercises. It would have been nice if they had included the FDS components on the CD, too, but it can be downloaded from Adobe's website.
At any rate, this is an excellent resource for anyone using Flex 2.