ActionScript: The Definitive Guide: Mastering Flash Programming

by Colin Moock

Given its ability to deliver high-impact experiences even over low-bandwidth connections, Flash has become the de facto standard for hundreds of thousands of multimedia web developers worldwide.Flash 5 now includes a new full-fledged programming language called "ActionScript" for controlling animation and multimedia. It's a quantum leap from the bare-bones "Actions" supported in Flash 4, and The Definitive Guide is the first book dedicated entirely to documenting and demonstrating this new language.ActionScript includes all fundamental programming constructs (variables, loops, conditionals, functions, etc.), and is inextricably fused with Flash's authoring behaviors and animation timelines. Because ActionScript is based heavily on the ECMAScript Language Specification (ECMA-262) and is syntactically nearly identical to JavaScript, Macromedia expects thousands of existing JavaScript programmers to migrate to ActionScript.This book is divided into three sections. Code samples are also available from the "Code Depot" on the author's web site devoted to Flash developers.Topics covered in this book The Definitive Guide is structured so both programmers and non-programmers can learn how to use ActionScript. This book will take you well beyond simple Flash animations so you can create your own enhanced Flash-driven sites.

Genres: Programming, Reference, Nonfiction, Technical, Geek

672 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really fully qualified to talk about this one, I don't think... It still sits on my shelf (at work) as a reminder that there was a time that I knew a thing or two about ActionScript and Flash more generally. But that was pre-AS3 (hell: pre-AS2).

That said, Moock presents the material quite well in this book and made ActionScript quite accessible -- even for a novice. I didn't finish with it and think of myself as an expert on the subject though -- but that's probably got more to do with me not putting the lessons into practice early/often enough.

[Achmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moock is a well endowed stallion among men. There has been much movement in the world of Flash/Shockwave/Actionscript, but in a pre-Flex world this book was the shiz.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously this book is well out of date. Nevertheless, in its time this was the definitive book on ActionScript.