Customer Reviews

ActionScripting in Flash MX

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

No stars. The text is too verbose, poorly organized and very confusing and downright cryptic. This is more on 'theory of programming' than hands-on work. The examples are non-existant, and the workshops hardly justify the price tag for this book.

The author constantly refers to unintroduced topics and assumes reader knowledge for topics that are not even addressed till later in the book. For example, we have to get to chapter 10 before we actually set text in a text variable. This is advanced?

The method of explaining is very confusing, very boring and very vague. I am up to chapter 12 now and I still cannot make head or tail of where the text is headed.

Save you money. Don't buy this book.
I will return it...

This has been a really good buy for me as a novice on flash actionscript programming. Phillip is writing in such a way that it was easy for me to understand, and follow the book.

It's a must have for beginners I think.

This book provided a practical example of how to use ActionScript to load and parce an XML file. The author's companion website provided working .fla and .xml files (easy to download and modify). For me this XML example code made the book worth the money.

This book is really one of the greatest I have read, and I'm not talking about action script only, but generally about all books about programming/design I have ever read.
But make no mistake, this is not a book for those who want some chunks of code ready to copy and paste. (even though it has some of those) This is a book for those who want to learn every aspect of action script programming and also general basis of programming and logic, and since those are not light concepts... well of course the book isn't a piece of cake.
There's a huge part of the book that could be considered very theoretical (450 pages before you get to the real practical part) and it could bore you if you are not really up to it, so I think it could be a mistake to use it as a textbook for college classes it is better suited for the enthusiast who really wants to learn by himself and from the root, it requires patience, time and dedication to go through every aspect of a programming language and this book intends to do so, hence, if you are not a real geek don't even try.
Personally I read it as if it was a good sci fi novel, it thrilled me.
The only downside there is to it is that it's noticeable (in the examples and the guy's web site) that Mr kerman isn't really an aesthetical genius so it falls a little short when it comes to concatenate all that programming with graphical elements, but since that isn't really the focus of the book it's not such a bad thing.
I'm really looking forward to seeing the update/new release for action script 2.0

I want my money back. So Phillip Kerman how about a refund. The examples are not clear or incorrect. I'll say the same about the workshop in the back of this book. The instructional portion (written) is ambiguous or too lengthy or not clear. Should be more concise. We, that is, the students of a noted college in Illinois have to use this book in our Advance Web-Designing class and I can say this for the entire class "we have sought out and found other sources to learn from". I'm glad to say this book will not be used next semester. I'm thankful to be a friend of Ed!!!

This book is a very good start for ActionScript Beginners, because it starts from simple things like defining a variable (Flash Basics) and goes on till the Advanced Workshops such as Drawing Graphs.

Only thing that I didn't like in this book was, that Workshops section is seperated from normal chapters (lessons). Author has divided the book in two parts:

Part 1 - Foundation
Part 2: Workshops

I would rather prefer the workshops be inside the chapters, maybe at the end of every chapter or where necassary. So that they would seamlessly teach you how to implement the things that you have already learned. Otherwise this way you need to either finish the whole book to reach to Workshops or jump to Workshops without finishing the book, if you jump to Workshops it might be difficult since you have not learned the required knowledge for that particular Workshop.

So it is your decision!

I have a programming background and can tell that this book is technically correct; and it does serve as a good introduction to the structure and syntax of ActionScript. There are many pearls of wisdom for the beginning programmer and much can be learned. However, my complaint is that the first half of the book is very dry with almost no (complete) examples. Rather, there are code "snipits" that do not tell the whole story. The second half (workshop) does have good examples, but you had to survive the first half to get there. If you're looking for a tutorial with step-by-step analysis, this is not your book (see the alternatives recommended above). If you didn't fall to sleep during dry, boring lectures in school, then you could benefit from the text.

I think this is one of the better books I have seen for learning ActionScript. There is enough detail and background on Flash to help programmers (with little to no Flash experience) as well as experienced Flash developers understand and write ActionScript.

As with most books, the first couple of chapters are designed to get readers with various backgrounds to reach the same level of understanding as quickly as possible. Again, there is enough detail and background on Flash that individuals with little experience can get up to speed quickly. Additionally, there is enough basic programming information, that designers who want to learn how to program Flash can learn the jargon and be able to read code. In this discussion, the reader is introduced to arrays and objects in ActionScript in addition to learning how to create your own objects.

Advanced developers will be pleased to find a section entitled "Interfacing with External Data". In this section, the reader learns how to access data via HTTP GET and how to work with XML. This section will be well read by programmers who need Flash to integrate with existing business data and infrastructure.

The biggest surprise (and most welcome addition) to this book was the approximately 200 pages of "Workshop" material. In the book's workshop, the reader is presented with exercises to complete with step-by-step detail. I found the format to be similar to Microsoft's Step-By-Step books. The workshop section of this book is a great addition and pushed the book from the category of "good buy" to "must have".

I'm reading the book right now. I just finished page 181. This review is to confirm you that this book is great. Simply because it really explains programming knowledge in everyday words. The author spends enough pages on a topic until you really get it.

To help you decide if this book is for you, let me give you my background. I am a Web Designer. I like doing interfaces and lots of Photoshop. I also like building pages in HTML. With time, I learned a bit of Javascript too. But I don't know any other languages. I must admit that even though I've been introduced to Flash when it was in version 2, I haven't worked with it a lot. Mainly because I don't like to create animation. I prefer static images. I'm more a technical designer than a "conceptual" one. With Flash now a strong standard, I wanted to put more time on it and the release of Flash MX gave me the kick to start learning. ActionScript is now so well built that with Javascript knowledge in my pocket, it became affordable for me. Now i'm more excited than ever to start programming in such a graphical environnement. :-)

So, is this book for you? I'd say that it's a must for any "Web Designer" + "Web Integrator" around. And the fact that there isn't many images in the book isn't flaw. It is so well written that you see the text become images only after a few pages!

Very easy to read and very interesting!! Excellent knowledge for all people connected to Flash development­. Buy it without any doubts!!! Now, if you excuse me, i must start chapter 8... :-)

The first book I read by Mr Kerman was the previous version of this book. I'm now a Philip Kerman fan! I would recommend both Kerman and New Riders Publishing when You need to sharpen Your programming skills! This book gives You everything You need to know about actionscripting! As usual very easy to read and it really does not only cover actionscripting - it gives You a visual and very educational lesson in object oriented programing. This Flash MX upgrade from the previous Flash 5 version is, of course, necessary for Your future work. The classy waxed cover will fit well on Your shelf.