Customer Reviews

ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference for Macromedia Flash 8

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

First of all, I am not that much of a review writer, but feel I have to add to the reviews above. I bought this book before the reviews above were written. If only I had waited. Anyway: why is this a ripp off?
1. it should have come with the software in the first place as the new help function within flash is totally unusable, and the documentation was far from complete.
2. it is full of mistakes, and the only erratum is the updated helpfunction with the software.
3. it was published at the time that even Macromedia knew that the documentation with their software was far from complete AND full of errors. Never could understand why they would repeat that unforgivable error in a book and dare ask money for it.

As a sidenote: the docs with the software are updated in the meantime, so you might as well put your printer to work if you need a printed copy. Don't waste your money on this book.

John

Review of Actionscript Language Reference for Macromedia Flash 8

Introduction:

Actionscript Language Reference for Macromedia Flash 8 from Macromedia Press and Rew Riders is a "thick book" that every Flash Designer or Developer should have sitting next to the keyboard. But don't let the words "Macromedia Flash" fool you into thinking this book is about animation or designing in Flash. This is a no nonsense dictionary-style resource that provides a ton of information about the powerful scripting language behind Flash 8.

Because this is a reference book, I will be comparing the content to another book published by New Riders and Macromedia Press, Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Actionscript 2.0 Dictionary. These two books are very similar in content and I would consider the Flash 8 book to be the second
edition of the Flash MX 2004 book.


First the bad news:

Because I had previously read the Flash MX 2004 book, I was a little suprised to see that the Flash 8 book has omitted, in my opinion, some valualbe editorial content in the beginning of the book. The Flash MX 2004 book includes articles from Flash Community Leaders that helps to build a good foundation for the rest of the book. The second issue that I had while reviewing the Flash 8 book was that it was a bit harder to find the reference information I needed. This is because the Flash 8 book uses a different style to list the language elements that is a bit harder to read (see below example).


Flash MX 2004 Dictionary: LoadVars.onData

Flash 8 Language Reference: onData(LoadVars.onData handler)


The second example bunches up the information and provides redundant information, and the issue is compounded by the Font style that is used which a bit too "bubbly" and does not stand out as much as the font used in the Flash MX 2004 book.



Now for the good news:

While the lack of introductory content is a small issue, the Flash 8 book more than makes up for it with extra content added for each language element listed. The explanations have improved and I think the money spent on this book is given back by the greatly improved examples that are provided for each listing. There is not longer just a few lines of code for each example. The book now has extended examples that really help to explain how the language element should be used while.


Conclusion:

While there is room for improvement, this reference manual is full of examples that make up for any Issues that I have with the fonts and listing format. The depth of information is what makes this book a very valuable asset to own, and I would highly recommend picking up your own copy. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this book an 8.5 and recommend it to any Flash Developer or Flash Designer looking for a reference manual on Actionscript for the Flash 8 environment.

Let me start off by saying that I knew before buying this book that the overwhelming majority of the material was a regurgitation of the online help information within Flash MX 2004 itself. Indeed, my main reason for buying was to have a hard copy of this information that I could plonk on my desk and refer to when necessary.

The biggest issue with this book is that the reference section seems not to be indexed at all, and neither do these pages have tabbed edges. In addition, the version of the documentation this is based on is full of errors and has some gaping holes that have since been fixed in the online help documentation. All these combine to make the book completely unusable as a reference.

Secondly, the articles are a complete waste fo time if you've done any basic reading up on the subject matter on the internet. You can find more helpful information on Flash MX 2004 and ActionScript 2.0 on the major Flash community sites, written by real community leaders that actually know what they're talking about. Admittedly I didn't buy the book for the articles, but had I done so I would have been severely disappointed.

At such a low price, I didn't expect a lot from this book and was prepared to forgive a few minor niggles. What I've now got is a moderately expensive door stop, and I would recommend heartily that anyone thinking about buying this book think again. If I could have given this book zero stars, I would have done, so I'm now waiting for the Moock/O'Reilly book on ActionScript 2.0 and OOP, which is what I should have done in the first place.

I bought this thinking "Macromedia should knopw how to write a dictionary about their own product, right?" This book looks like went to press without even passing NEAR an editor's desk; in the first 5 references I looked up, four of them were incomplete or outright wrong. Syntax listings are written incorrectly, and I have found usage samples under code listings that just would not work, because they have been written incorrectly. Having worked with Flash for 6 years now, I was really hoping to have a nice handy reference to sit on my desk. This book is NOT it.

Bought this after upgrading from Flash MX 2004 Pro to Flash 8 in order to delve deeper into AS 2.0 and the new classes offered in Macromedia/Adobe's latest Flash release. This is the best resource I have found for any Flash release and has earned a permanent spot on my desk until I upgrade again.

If you think, like me, you are going to learn how to create chunky codes by buying this book, think again. In fact, except for the articles at the beginning, most of the stuff in this book is in help section of Flash. If you open the help panel in Flash, search for whatever item in the dictionary, you will get sometimes exact descriptions what the dictionary says. Yet, it is a good reference, assuming you don't like reading off of a screen. This IS ONLY A REFERNCE. It is not going to teach you code, although they offer some sample codes depending on the feature you are looking for.

As its name states this is an ActionScript dictionary. It is devided in several parts being the last one the dictionary. The other parts will help you know what for is ActionScript and Flash and how to make AcitonScript work in your animations. You should have a good knowledge of Flash in order to understand and implement the contents of the book. Do not expect to find complete examples to run in Flash directly. Instead you will find short ones that help you understand and feel the power of ActionScript. If you work with ActionScript this dictionary must be on your desk at any time to know exactly what you are doing and how it is made.

It is not very expensive and very helpful.

I bought this book at the Macworld show, and am very disappointed to read that its full of errors, searched every forum I could find, and found that Peachpit DON'T even have an errata for this. I'm tired of trying to learn ActionScript only to discover that half the stuff written is full of sloppy mistakes. Having thumbed through it, the last 600 pages are a reproduction of the Flash Help Panel, which should have come with the software, the second 200 pages repeat the Reference book that came with Flash MX, and so we are left with 200 pages, of 6 articles by "Community Leaders" who few of the community seem to have heard of. There is no accompanying website for downloads or errata, and this book doesn't seem worth the investment.

Over 1,000 pages for less than $20. I like it. This book has just about everything I need for cranking with ActionScript 2.0. The first 200 pages are brand new materials written by a number of Flash hotshots, and the remaining 800 pages are the printed docs that Flash MX 2004 provides on PDF files.

I for one am not about to burn up half of a $70 toner cartridge to print out all of the docs on the PDF files, and then put close to 1,000 pages into a half dozen loose leaf binders and consider myself ahead of the game. So, I like the dictionary nice and printed out with an index and good table of contents. Don't expect to get something other than what's on the PDF files in the last 800 pages of this book other than the index and TOC.

So now for the new stuff that makes up the first 200 pages of the book. This new part consists of "Articles" by different Flash folks you've probably heard of before. Actually, they're more like chapters, but I'll not quibble about them being one or the other. They are very helpful. The first article is a straight forward one about transitioning from ActionScirpt 1.0 to ActionScript 2.0. It's complete with lots of examples, with just about every new feature in AS 2.0 (PrintJob, LoadMovieClip, NetStream, NetConnection and lots more). Each of these has an explanation and example that works, including using classes. (Goodby _prototype!) The remaining articles cover topics like writing code with style, object oriented programming using Flash MX 2004(OOP), hybrid documents (working with Flash and HTML, XML, JavaScript, data binding, etc.), HTML text file enhancements (like adding graphics to Flash text fields) and winding up with a good article about Rich Internet Application development. Now all of this is new stuff, and for me, it was worth the price of the book.

This big fat tome will no doubt receive my multiple stick-em tags, and I've put it to good use. It's a look-up book and read-what-you-need book, and it's dirt cheap! I've learned a lot already, and that's all I care about.

My advise is to look at this book in a book store. I think if you see it, you'll see why it's well worth it.

I have found this book to be a very useful reference. I don't think it was really meant to teach novice Flash designers/developers how to become an ActionScript developer. It is however meant to be a thorough ActionScript dictionary and reference to which it does a very good job. If you are looking for a tutorial, get one of the O'reilly books (ActionScript for Flash MX: TDG, and/or Essential ActionScript 2.0), I have both of these books and they are wonderful learning books. I do have to say that the ActionScript 2.0 Dictionary (this book) and ActionScript for Flash MX (from O'reilly) are the two books on AS that have a permanent spot on my desk. Also, you can't beat the price of this book, completely worth it if you are looking for a reference.