The ActionScript 3.0 Migration Guide: Making the Move from ActionScript 2.0 [Paperback]

Kris Hadlock (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321555589 | ISBN-13: 978-0321555588 | Publication Date: July 21, 2008 | Edition: 1

When Flash Player 9 released in June 2006, it introduced the new scripting language, ActionScript 3, which has already taken hold in the Adobe Flex application development community. ActionScript 3 provides not only a significant enhancement in performance, but also a more robust programming model that lends itself to complex Rich Internet Application development. For web designers and developers who need to make the move to ActionScript 3 from the previous version, ActionScript 2, the learning curve has proven to be significant. In this essential and timely guide, ActionScript expert Kris Hadlock speaks squarely to the many thousands of ActionScript 2 users who need to make the leap right away. The ActionScript Migration Guide covers all of the major changes in ActionScript from version 2 to 3. The book explains the most important and fundamental changes in ActionScript drawing comparisons between the two languages both visually and contextually. With a comprehensive index and robust table of contents designers and developers will easily be able to locate the old an/or new codes with side-by-side comparisons of how to program both and the explanation of the concepts behind them.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press; 1 edition (July 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321555589
• ISBN-13: 978-0321555588
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,968,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kris Hadlock has been a contract web developer and designer since 1996. He has worked on projects for companies such as Spin Magazine, UBS, Canon, IKEA, United Airlines, JP Morgan Chase, Pfizer, Thomson Corporation, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, GoDaddy Software, Fire Mountain Gems, and many more.

He is the author of Ajax for Web Application Developers (Sams), The ActionScript 3.0 Migration Guide (New Riders) and a featured columnist and writer for numerous web sites and design magazines, including Peachpit.com, .net magazine, Practical Web Design magazine (PWD), webreference.com, AjaxWorld magazine and more.

Kris is also the founder of www.studiosedition.com, a web design and application development studio specializing in the fusion of form and function.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a mediocre effort, July 22, 2008

By 

Thomas B. Talbot (New Market, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The ActionScript 3.0 Migration Guide: Making the Move from ActionScript 2.0 (Paperback)

As an actionscript (AS) developer making the transition from 2.0 to 3.0, I feel really let down by this book. At ~140 pages it is more like a pamphlet than a programming book and is quite expensive for the amount of content it contains.

On a positive note, the book is intelligently organized by topics (Event models, scope, timing, text, sound, etc..) and provides both AS2 and AS3 code back to back to allow for comparisons. The code is listed in color and includes little break out notes and explanations that are quite handy. I imagine that the direct AS2/AS3 comparisons may come in handy from time to time.

Not all code examples will run on your computer unless you do some work on your own such as drawing and placing objects into your project, though this book targeting 'beginning/intermediate' users does not explain how to do this. Also, program output is not included in the book.

An additional problem is that the code in the book is often a bit confusing and lengthy. The confusing parts are often not germane to the subject being demonstrated.

The book does do a good job of explaining some of the benefits of using AS3 over the previous version. It also appears to be well proofed. Despite this, the terse commentary and not quite optimal code lead me to believe that this migration guide was assembled hurriedly.

Finally, I recommend going directly to the Actionscript help file on your computer or a good Actionscript 3.0 book such as Foundation ActionScript 3.0 with Flash CS3 and Flex (Foundation) or ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook: Solutions for Flash Platform and Flex Application Developers.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing- Thumbs Down Down Way Down, July 26, 2008

By 

B. Smith "iben" (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The ActionScript 3.0 Migration Guide: Making the Move from ActionScript 2.0 (Paperback)

I am a developer of 3 years, in AS 1.0 and AS 2.0 language, and was hoping that this book was going to expose all the changes of which are tossed into other books in a very convoluted manner. This book is titled making the move from as2.0 and so without any visible chapters before the book was released, one would think it would cover all facets of the language that have been changed. There is very very very little in this book for anyone who might have been programming in as2, unless they were using AS2 for only a time frame of 1 day. Where is the chapter on e4x and how to traverse. Where is the Chapter covering traversing the DisplayObject. Where is the Chapter on the changes covering the bitmap Class.

One thing that is the most disappointing to me regarding this book, is the title's illusion to bring you up to speed. But anyone who knows coding from AS2 would be able to figure these things out with ease from any book..

5.0 out of 5 stars Know what you are getting., March 23, 2009

By 

Steven Burns (-) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The ActionScript 3.0 Migration Guide: Making the Move from ActionScript 2.0 (Paperback)

The book's objective is very clear: help you making the move from 2.0 to 3.0. That's it, no more, no less.

The book is for AS3 beginners but you have to be familiar with Flash and AS2. So it won't explain you what the stage is or how to put objects there and tie them to classes, because you already know that.

The changes covered will take care of 85% of your questions when making the move. As you move to more advanced topics, the book will definitively fall short but you'll be already on your way. At this point in time, you'll definitively want to get another book with deeper coverage of AS3 in general.

This book is just a time saver, but time is precious and it's definitively worth it.