Macromedia Flash is the obvious choice for delivering multimedia over the Web. At the heart of Flash's power is ActionScript, the product's powerful object-oriented scripting language. ActionScript is based on JavaScript, making it easy for Web developers new to Flash to get up to speed. ActionScript: The Definitive Guide is a tutorial and reference to ActionScript that meets the needs of both new Flash developers learning the language and experienced coders who need a daily reference.

Author Colin Moock starts off with a primer to Flash terminology and a quick example application--an interactive quiz. Following that, the book quickly gets down to ActionScript nuts and bolts. The first part covers the basics of the language, such as operators, variable scope, and conditional logic, in a traditional presentation. A few lines of example code illustrate each concept.

Critical topics like arrays, movie clips, and object-oriented programming are covered well at the detail level, though a more extensive example application would really have come in handy to illustrate the big picture. The back of the book contains an excellent reference to the ActionScript language, complete with inline example code. ActionScript is an important tool to master, and ActionScript: The Definitive Guide is a fine means to that end. --Stephen W. Plain

Review

All in all, this was a very good book to read with a great deal of knowledge learned as a result. -- San Antonio Macromedia & ColdFusion UG, April 2002

Even a beginner, with no programming experience, can learn to program using this book. -- Linda Roeder, Personal Web Pages, About.com

Excellent edition for the Flash Programmer or
anyone interested in becoming one. This is an
essential piece for any Flash library. -- Mike London, Chain Management, Jan 2002

I've been mining O'Reilly's "ActionScript: the Definitive Guide," by Colin Moock, for a while now; it's a great book! -- Michael Hurwicz, Internet Eye, Jan 2002

If you are in the market to learn, to really learn about the hows and whys of ActionScript, then this is the book you have been waiting for. -- Jackie McGhee, eDevCafe

This guide will help you get serious and keep you on track every step of the way. -- Tom Emens, ccflash.org, March

This is the book for everybody who really wants to understand ActionScript. -- Waldo Smeets, Ultra DevZone, March 2002

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66 Reviews

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4.8 out of 5 stars (66 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Not suitable for experienced programmers, Feb 13 2003

"akira238" (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ActionScript: The Definitive Guide: Mastering Flash Programming (Paperback)

Nice book, found it pretty pleasant at first, but it was too easy to digest (six, seven hours and you can toss it over your shoulder). The real answers I need (mostly dealing with movie clip behaviours) are only vaguely explained or absent and I found the book more of a frustration than otherwise from about 1 week onwards.

Having said this, there doesn't appear to be any other title for Flash that caters to those whose programming knowledge exceeds their experience as a graphical design user.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, Nov 9 2002

Susan J. Preston "q-creative" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: ActionScript: The Definitive Guide: Mastering Flash Programming (Paperback)

Finally, an actionscript guide that is superb in its production! My hat is off to Colin and Gary for this detail-oriented volume that has cleared the smoke out of my head and has made a programmer out of an artist.

Bravo!!!

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5.0 out of 5 stars best buy ever, Nov 7 2002

JNM van der Poel (Haarlem, N-H Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ActionScript: The Definitive Guide: Mastering Flash Programming (Paperback)

i dont need to say more, I even pre orderd the second edition allready

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