Flex™ 3: A Beginner's Guide [Paperback]

Michele E. Davis (Author), Jon A. Phillips (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071544186 | ISBN-13: 978-0071544184 | Publication Date: March 21, 2008 | Edition: 1

Essential Skills--Made Easy!

Learn to program with Flex 3, the powerful tool for building multimedia-rich, interactive Flash applications for the Web. Flex 3: A Beginner's Guide is an easy-to-follow, fast-paced tutorial that allows you to fully grasp the fundamentals, including MXML, ActionScript, Flex Builder, states, transitions, and behaviors. You'll learn how to customize your applications with styles, skins, and themes; access remote data using the XML HTTP Service Request; profile and debug your applications; and manage media assets.

Designed for Easy Learning

• Key Skills & Concepts--Chapter-opening lists of specific skills covered in the chapter
• Ask the Experts--Q&A sections filled with bonus information and helpful tips
• Try This--Short, hands-on exercises to practice your skills
• Notes--Bonus information related to the topic being covered
• Tips--Helpful reminders or alternate ways of doing things
• Cautions--Errors and pitfalls to avoid
• Annotated Syntax--Example code with commentary that describes the programming techniques being illustrated

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michele E. Davis is a technology writer and author or coauthor of more than 17 computer books. She consults as an instructional designer, trainer, and technical writer for Fortune 500 companies including General Mills, ACS, Whirlpool, Best Buy and many others.

Jon A. Phillips designs custom Web solutions and consults as a functional software developer for clients such as the University of Minnesota, Fisher-Rosemount, Lockheed-Martin, and Kinetic Data. He has worked with numerous databases, including Oracle, SQL Server, and MySQL for more than 14 years. Phillips has coauthored five technology books with Michele Davis.

Product Details

• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 1 edition (March 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071544186
• ISBN-13: 978-0071544184
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,644,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Assumes you already know object oriented programming, June 4, 2008

By 

Steven C. Fleming (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flex™ 3: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

I've been mostly disappointed with this book. The book is titled "A Beginner's Guide" which seems to mean beginners who already know Java or some other object oriented programming language. I downloaded the source files given in the book, and many of them do not run as written. Some I've been able to fix, some not. Also, I wish the examples would be more integrated e.g. a simple application was built throughout the book. The last example I tried showed how to build a menu that doesn't do anything or relate to any other example in the book. Finally, I wish the examples focused more on why something is coded a certain way rather than just how to code it. [...]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed reading this book, August 29, 2008

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Carl E. Olsen (Ankeny, IA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flex™ 3: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

I am an experienced PHP programmer and use object oriented programming methods. I found this book to be a quick read and gave me enough of the basics that I can build anything I need. I'm certainly not ready to do an entire web site using Flash Player, but this is nice for creating small components. I'm seriously thinking about creating some user forms with Flex so I don't get inconsistent user experience from one browswer to another. I use a lot of JavaScript, which makes Flex a good choice because ActionScript is so similar to JavaScript. This book must have been written with someone like me in mind, because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Beginner will not learn from this book, June 8, 2008

By 

WRH (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Flex™ 3: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

I am not sure who this book is intended for, a beginner to Flex will not be able to learn Flex from this book. Maybe a manager can get some good overview but even that would be a lot of useless knowledge for a couple of keys features and abilities.

Save your money and find a different book that will teach you Flex.