24/04/04
28Actionscript recommendations?
Lets say you knew someone who could use Flash. They could use use the timeline, animate/tween etc, but really wanted to get to grips with the actionscript side. What book/site/tutorial CD would you suggest they look at? “ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide” by Colin Moock looked like a good bet, but please leave thoughts if you have them.
Sorry, its a cheeky use of a blog, but you’re all such nice, helpful people…
Tags: actionscript, code, questions
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dez said 1598 days ago:
The Friends of Ed Foundation series specifically Foundation ActionScript for Flash MX 2004 may be good place to start. Friendly and fun. (http://www.friendsofed.com/)Also Colin Moock has announced that Essential ActionScript 2.0 is due out mid-year. Suitable for people with prior Action Script knowledge or who come from a programming background. (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/0596006527/index.html)
PS. Your live preview is very cool.
Shaun Inman said 1598 days ago:
ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide is exactly that, The Definitive Guide. It thoroughly covers syntax and language structure as well as provides some insight into the development process--which is invaluable if you've never had any formal programming training (like myself).Joshua Davis's Flash to the Core, also a good primer, is more task oriented. It walks you through elegant solutions to the most common problems you'll be faced when developing Flash content: graceful tweens, scrollbars and dragable content as well as programmed randomness.
Those are the two on my bookshelf that I turn to most when working with Flash (AS:TDG more so than FTC). Hope that helps.
Todd Dominey said 1598 days ago:
I live, sweat, cuss, and breathe by ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide.It's the ultimate AS book, for both new developers and old, because it offers both groups everything they need. The first half is very well written, with a clarity you rarely see in programming books. I personally learned most of what I know from Moock's excellent work. The second half is a fantastic reference that is indispensable to my workflow (I reach for it nearly every day).
I seriously wouldn't recommend buying any other ActionScript book before this one. Nearly all the others (with the exception perhaps of Philip Kermann's Flash MX ActionScript, which is good too) are cookie-cutter code tutorials and walkthroughs. They're good books to have when you have a working knowledge of AS, but they're the wrong books to buy if you're just starting out.
Jon Hicks said 1598 days ago:
Great, that seems to be loud and clear.Gosh, that Todd Dominey was looking at my blog! Fantastic...
Jason Santa Maria said 1598 days ago:
ASDG is definitely where its at. But where to start might depend on how well you do with programming general. If you are good with dry code without many "lessons" or ways to apply said code while you are learning, you may want to try something like Brendan Dawes' "Drag Slide Fade: Actionscript for Designers". It's a good place to start just because you will learn some simple and common methods that you will easily be able to build upon. Josh Davis' book is good to because you get a good spoonful of theory and practice.After that, or If you are a codehead, by all means ASDG is the best place to go (and pretty much finish). Read it cover to cover once or twice and you will get your official Actionscript merit badge. I agree with Dominey, there really isn't anything you can't tackle with Flash after this one. Moock writes in such a clear and simple manner that you will zip through it. Afterwards, the book serves as the best Actionscript glossary and reference you can but. It's worth the cover price alone for just that.
Also good are some of Jared Tarbell's or Robert Penner's books on Flash and math. Heavier stuff though.
Neil said 1598 days ago:
I would have to fourth (or is that fifth) the recommendation for AS DG, though as an instructor I have found the book "Flash MX Actionscripting: Training from the source" to be very good, too.The big problem with AS DG is it's not tutorial-based. It's great for people who have had some exposure to programming before, or have the tenacity to read through a fairly weighty book, but for people who like doing things as they learn the Training from the Source book works quite well.
I used it to teach AS to forty students with great success, most of which had never programmed before at all. I guess it really depends on how you learn best.
Eric Curtis said 1598 days ago:
I am in a similiar position of trying to find a good starting AS Book and I ran across two bits of information that you might want to know:1. There is a 2nd edition coming out in a month or two.
2. You might want to check out :
http://safari.oreilly.com
They have the AS DG and many other great books.
Sincerely,
EC
Dan Benjamin said 1597 days ago:
I think it depends on your prior experience as a programmer as to which book you'll like best (although typically, you can't go wrong with an O'Reilly book). If you're already comfortable writing code and just need to learn the ActionScript syntax and way of getting things done, AS DG would certainly work well for you (it did for a few of my friends who made the jump from PHP and Java to AS).On the other hand, if you're new to writing code in general, taking Neil's advice would be even more beneficial, as you'll need to learn some foundation theory as well, and the best way to do that is with Tutorials, and generally speaking, O'Reilly books are less tutorial based.
I'd like to mention one more book, also by O'Reilly: The ActionScript Cookbook. Even if you're not yet ready for this book from a programming standpoint, it will soon become an invaluable too to you when your clients get wind that you've become a Flash genius and start making difficult requests.
One more thing: asking for a book recommenation is *hardly* a cheeky use of a blog!
I've heard that some people have actually converted their blogs into miniature eBays, and all they do now is peddle old junk on their unsuspecting readers.
Jason Santa Maria said 1597 days ago:
The hell you say!Shaun Inman said 1597 days ago:
How about one of those Flash Magic books by David Emberton? He seems like an intelligent enough chap. </sarcasm>Keegan Jones said 1597 days ago:
I've read/bought/borrowed many Flash related books in the past year and the best one by far is: AS DG. Personally I enjoy the the non-tutorial style of the book because Colin Moock explanations are simple and to the point!Jon HIcks said 1597 days ago:
My 'programming' experience is limited to basic php and javascript. Other than that all I do is code HTML and CSS. I've dabbled with actionscript before, with things like 'TellTarget" (which I believe is now deprecated), but never really got stuck in and learnt it.As I'm not coming to it from a programmers standpoint, maybe I need something more like Jason's suggestion of Drag, Slide Fade?
Dan - I don't know who you mean?! At least selling your stuff might be interesting to readers..
Anon said 1597 days ago:
Telltarget is really old school ... :)Jason Santa Maria said 1597 days ago:
Well, code is not completely foreign to you then. Actionscript and Javascript are first cousins so the syntax should not look too odd. So, what it really comes down to is your learning preference.If you are a visual person who like examples and walk-through, go with books like Drag Slide Fade and Flash to the Core.
If you like to learn everything about something before taking it into practice, ASDG is your buttercup.
The 2 paths are fairly interchangable. I did ASDG first, then looked at books like the others to see how some people did with implementation. And since I could already read Actionscript by that time, it was a snap to understand and modify to suit my needs.
hangon said 1597 days ago:
Too bad moock's definitive guide doesn't really deal with the Object oriented programming side of flash...it's a good reference but i can't wait to have his last book in hands...
That one will fullfil my expectations and reveal the beauty of OOP in flash...
i hope...
Andy Budd said 1596 days ago:
I highly recommend Actionscripting in Flash MX by Phillip Kerman. It's pitched at a really good level. It doesn't treat you like an idiot for the first half of the book, and then a programming genius for the rest. It builds nicely, giving you a good overview of the language and how to handle Flash's many quirks. It's also written in a very nice, friendly tone. On the whole, it's my favourite Action-scripting book.That being said, I haven't done any AS for well over a year, and haven't read Colin's new book.
Andy Budd said 1596 days ago:
Oh, and from what I remember, Actionscripting in Flash MX is written very much from an object oriented point of view, even if it doesn't go into huge detail about OOP.Johnie said 1596 days ago:
I've got Foundation Actionscript by Sham Bhangal ISBN 1-903450-32-2, bought for Flash 5 work.It covers most of the standard things you should want to start doing. Jon - if you pass by sometime you can borrow it, though it is a bit out of date now.
David Chien said 1596 days ago:
Actually you're pretty much in the same boat that I was in about three weeks ago. My general programming experience (besides zany SQL stuff) consisted of PHP, Javascript, and a bit of Java that just barely touched on OOP.Actionscript for Flash MX is definitely the way to go for a hardcore reference manual. But for a quick "let's make something that actually works" piece, I recommend Flash MX Magic -- the projects were easy enough to grasp and it really gives you a good overview of real world Flash program/interface set ups.
Personally, I can't wait for Moock's upcoming book Essential Actionscript 2.0. That book should rock some socks.
Jon Hicks said 1596 days ago:
Thanks Johnie, although there have been a lot of changes in Actionscript since MX came out. It was with Flash 5 that I used to dabble my toes in actionscript, but that some of that stuff I learnt is now deprecated.David - who does "Actionscript for Flash MX"?
Andy - thanks, I'll look into that too. It sounds as if it might a good one to start with.
David Chien said 1596 days ago:
Actionscript for Flash MX (aka. ASDG) is by the aforementioned Colin Moock, but Flash MX Magic is by a hodge-podge of developers. I have the earlier 3rd edition of the book, not the current Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Magic, but it's still applicable for a quick slice of Actionscripting. Plus it has a nice Flash based MP3 player project that quickly got my feet wet in the Sound object while at the same time solving the standing need for a nice and tidy streaming method for my mp3 server (outside of other clunky webbased streaming methods).Jon Hicks said 1596 days ago:
Sorry David, after all the talk of 'ASDG' I got confused ;o)Dan Benjamin said 1596 days ago:
Jon: I was making fun of hivelogic, being that some people are calling it HiveBay now.Jon Hicks said 1596 days ago:
Dan - s'OK, I know!! :o)Egor Kloos said 1596 days ago:
It's not like you need more advice on a AS book. But I must agree with most here, ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide is exactly what it says it is on the cover. Get this before buying anything else!Cody Lindley said 1587 days ago:
If you can write JavaScript then you can write actionscript. I say focus on learning the flash interface and how movieclips interact with actionscript. Save your money until you are comfortable with flash by walking thru the numerous tutorials available for free on the internet. Once you have a 30,000 foot view of how actionscript associates itself with flash objects (moiveclips) then buy a resource like Colins book.Terrence said 1586 days ago:
ASDG is good, but I covet Object Oriented Flash MX by Drol and OOP with Actionscript by Hall et al.Great books!
supercrisis said 1578 days ago:
ASDG was the first Actionscript book I bought. It taught be everything I needed to know to tackle other Internet programming languages; Javascript, obvious, and then PHP as well. A great read and worth the dollar for the language guide alone.