Flash MX: Advanced ActionScript [Paperback]

James L. Mohler (Author), Nishant Kothary (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0766829103 | ISBN-13: 978-0766829107 | Publication Date: August 5, 2002 | Edition: 1

Flash has taken the web world by storm, establishing itself as the de facto industry standard for web content and applications. With the release of Flash MX, more and more users are tackling the demanding issues of advanced development. In this book, Purdue University's rising computer graphics expert James Mohler and co-author Nishant Kothary pick up where the best-selling Flash MX: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity leaves off, presenting step-by-step solutions designed to help advanced users extend the awesome power of Flash on their web sites.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Mohler is a Senior Research Scientist and Associate Professor at Purdue University, where he currently leads a highly talented group of artists and programmers who are building Purdue?s next-generation web presence. He is also serving as the SIGGRAPH 2005 Conference Chair, where he will be responsible for the largest computer graphics and interactive techniques conference in the world. James Mohler is the author or co-author of more than 20 computer books.

Nishant Kothary is multimedia developer specializing in the field of web design and emerging technologies. He teaches courses at Purdue University dealing with the fundamentals of scripting and tagging, and currently serves as web developer for the Office of Technology Commercialization at Purdue University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Delmar Cengage Learning; 1 edition (August 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0766829103
• ISBN-13: 978-0766829107
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,245,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive but cold, February 25, 2003

By 

Andrew Otwell "heyotwell" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash MX: Advanced ActionScript (Paperback)

This is a quite thorough book that picks up where Mohler's intro book leaves off. It's written as if a Flash instructor literally transcribed his class presentations, which is good and bad. Explanations are long, but at times are wordy and dull. It will remind you at times of tedious homework assignments and drills. There is quite a bit of slogging through pages with only two or three long paragraphs with no Flash code. That's not bad, but it's a sign that an editor probably could have tightened up the writing here.

Also, these authors need to lighten up and learn to write! The tone they take is often "academic", with all the snobbiness and overuse of big words and long sentences that comes with that. Often it's clear that one or the other of the two authors has written a particular passage--and there are some awful clunkers there. Better instructors and writers strive for a more human, friendly tone.

Also, there are coding techniques that seem to me not to reflect current or common Flash coding practice, like the frequent use of the eval() function and the set() function (which I've *never* seen other advanced Flash authors use).

One good thing: the two long projects in the book are kind of neat, definately better than in some other big Flash books.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book even for beginners, May 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Flash MX: Advanced ActionScript (Paperback)

I'm a beginning flash user, and I picked this book up as a follow up to Mohler's first book. Even though it explores advanced scripting, the explanations are clear enough for beginners like myself to understand. I actually understand OOP because of the great dog class example. There are some really great examples on the cd-rom. It's so helpful to have an actual Flash file to play with, so I can see exactly how it works.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding book, January 30, 2003

By 

chichi (india) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash MX: Advanced ActionScript (Paperback)

a great book for any flash student with superb examples . a must for anyone connected to computers..