ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques (Adobe Developer Library) (Paperback)

~ William Sanders (Author), Chandima Cumaranatunge (Author)
Key Phrases: symmetric proxy, different data displays, home team wins, Object-Oriented Programming, Extended Example, Flash Media Server (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Now that ActionScript is reengineered from top to bottom as a true object-oriented programming (OOP) language, reusable design patterns are an ideal way to solve common problems in Flash and Flex applications. If you're an experienced Flash or Flex developer ready to tackle sophisticated programming techniques with ActionScript 3.0, this hands-on introduction to design patterns is the book you need.

ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns takes you step by step through the process, first by explaining how design patterns provide a clear road map for structuring code that actually makes OOP languages easier to learn and use. You then learn about various types of design patterns and construct small abstract examples before trying your hand at building full-fledged working applications outlined in the book. Topics in ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns include:

• Key features of ActionScript 3.0 and why it became an OOP language
• OOP characteristics, such as classes, abstraction, inheritance, and polymorphism
• The benefits of using design patterns
• Creational patterns, including Factory and Singleton patterns
• Structural patterns, including Decorator, Adapter, and Composite patterns
• Behavioral patterns, including Command, Observer, Strategy, and State patterns
• Multiple design patterns, including Model-View-Controller and Symmetric Proxy designs

During the course of the book, you'll work with examples of increasing complexity, such as an e-business application with service options that users can select, an interface for selecting a class of products and individual products in each class, an action game application, a video record and playback application, and many more. Whether you're coming to Flash and Flex from Java or C++, or have experience with ActionScript 2.0, ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns will have you constructing truly elegant solutions for your Flash and Flex applications in no time.

About the Author

Dr. William Sanders is a Professor of Interactive Information Technology at the University of Hartford. He teaches courses in Flash, ActionScript, Flash Media Server, PHP, C#, SQL, and XHTML among other Internet languages. He has published 44 computer and computer-related books, written software ranging from Basic to Flash Media Server ActionScript and served as a consultant for different computer software companies.

Dr. Chadima Cumaranatunge is an Assistant Professor of Interactive Information Technology at the University of Hartford. He teaches an introduction to the IIT major, covering Flash and some ActionScript, a gaming course using Flash and ActionScript as well as educational technology courses in the Education, Nursing, and Health Professions College. Recently he received a grant to teach an experimental course in robotics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 530 pages
• Publisher: Adobe Developer Library; 1 edition (July 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596528469
• ISBN-13: 978-0596528461
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #105,382 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worse than uninformative, it's actually mis-leading, August 27, 2007

By	Lawrence Maccherone Jr. "Software craftsman a... (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My biggest complaint with this book is that the authors basically just took the design patterns found in Java and C++ and re-implemented them to run under ActionScript 3 (AS3). The list is comprehensive, but it's clear that the authors don't "think in AS3".

In several core ways, AS3 is very different than Java and even more so with respect to C++. For instance, the event model is baked into the language and asynchronous programming is a different style. Also, XML and XPath are native constructs in ActionScript 3, not libraries like they are in other languages. These differences (among others) imply that some of the original Gang of Four (GoF) and Java patterns manifest themselves differently and some patterns don't apply at all. There are a few places in the book where the authors use the built-in events infrastructure and few other native features, but it's clear that they don't think in AS3. It seems like they think in Java.

For instance, the observer pattern is one of the core GoF and HeadFirst patterns. However, the native event capability in AS3 serves the same purpose. Rather than show you how/why to use the native event capability, this book happily shows you an AS3 translation of the GoF/HeadFirst observer pattern and never tells you to use the built-in event capability instead. In contrast, the Joey Lott and Danny Patterson book from Adobe Press, does not have a section on the observer pattern, but there is a chapter on "WORKING WITH EVENTS".

The above problem would be enough for me to recommend that you not buy this book but it gets worse. This book is not even great at teaching you how to think in design patterns. To be fair, neither is the original GoF design patterns book nor is the Lott/Patterson book. The best book for this purpose is the HeadFirst book. Its examples are Java but, the HeadFirst book walks you through application evolution which really makes the case for why the patterns are useful. The HeadFirst book also includes exercises and discussion as well as a quirky style that really make the concepts sink in so you learn to recognize when to use each pattern.

If you are an AS3 programmer who is already familiar with design patterns, just get the Lott/Patterson book. If you are new to design patterns, get the HeadFirst book AND the Lott/Patterson book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive resource on Design Patterns for ActionScript 3.0, November 24, 2007

By	Peter Elst (Belgium) - See all my reviews

I've been reading through O'Reilly's "ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques" by William Sanders and Chandima Cumaranatunge for the last few weeks and have to say its an incredibly useful resource.

The interesting thing is that this book approaches design patterns in the more traditional sense, not dumbing down on the object-oriented terminology. In that sense it is very approachable to those coming from a Java or C background and are looking for ActionScript 3.0 implementations of specific patterns.

Full review at: [...]

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very clear book on Design Patterns for ActionScript developers, July 25, 2007

By	calvinnme "Texan refugee" (Fredericksburg, Va) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

This book tackles the rather advanced topic of writing reusable OOP code for ActionScript 3.0 targeting intermediate ActionScript developers. The book organizes its topics in a way similar to the book "Design Patterns Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software" by Erich Gamma et al - also known as the Gang of Four. In spite of its target audience, the first part of the book contains an introduction to both design patterns and object orientation to assist those readers with minimal object-oriented programming experience. More advanced users may want to skip the review of OOP, but go over the materials on design patterns. Parts II, III and IV are the three major parts of the book. They examine fundamental design patterns, and organize the patterns into creational, structural and behavioral categories. Representative design patterns are included in each part, but every single design pattern from the book by Gamma and his associates is not included since these other patterns are not very relevant to ActionScript, plus Gamma's book is considered the definitive reference on the subject.

Each chapter on design patterns is organized in a similar matter both to clarify understanding the purpose of a design pattern and how to use it and to make the book more uniform and therefore well-suited as a reference. The following is the basic outline of each of the chapters on design patterns:

1. What is the pattern?
2. Key features of the pattern
3. The formal model of the pattern including a class diagram
4. Key OOP concepts found in the pattern
5. Minimalist abstract example
6. Applied examples

You will need either Flash CS3 or Flex 2 to work with the program examples in this book. All the applications were developed in Flash IDE, so Flex 2 developers will need to make modifications, especially where certain features were developed using Flash drawing tools and components. A few examples use Flash Media Server 2 (FMS2). Thoe examples can be created using the Developer's version of FMS2 that you can download from Adobe. You will need either a Windows or Linux OS to run Flash Media Server 2. Otherwise, you can skip the examples with FMS2 if you like and not lose much. The following is the detailed table of contents:

Part I. CONSTANT CHANGE
1. Object-Oriented Programming, Design Patterns, and ActionScript 3.0
The Pleasure of Doing Something Well
OOP Basics
Abstraction
Encapsulation
Inheritance
Polymorphism
Principles of Design Pattern Development
Program to Interfaces over Implementations
Favor Composition
Maintenance and Extensibility Planning
Your Application Plan: It Ain't You Babe
Part II. CREATIONAL PATTERNS
2. Factory Method Pattern
What Is the Factory Method Pattern?
Abstract Classes in ActionScript 3.0
Minimalist Example
Hiding the Product Classes
Example: Print Shop
Extended Example: Color Printing
Key OOP Concepts Used in the Factory Method Pattern
Example: Sprite Factory
Example: Vertical Shooter Game
Summary
3. Singleton Pattern
What Is the Singleton Pattern?
Key OOP Concepts Used with the Singleton Pattern
Minimalist Abstract Singleton
When to Use the Singleton Pattern
Summary
Part III. STRUCTURAL PATTERNS
4. Decorator Pattern
What Is the Decorator Pattern?
Key OOP Concepts Used with the Decorator Pattern
Minimalist Abstract Decorator
Applying a Simple Decorator Pattern in Flash: Paper Doll
Decorating - The right and wrong way
Dynamic Selection of Concrete Components and Decorations: A Hybrid Car Dealership
Summary
5. Adapter Pattern
What Is the Adapter Pattern?
Object and Class Adapters
Key OOP Concepts in the Adapter Pattern
Example: Car Steering Adapter
Extended Example: Steering the Car Using a Mouse
Example: List Display Adapter
Extended Example: Displaying the O'Reilly New Books List
Summary
6. Composite Pattern
What Is the Composite Pattern?
Minimalist Example of a Composite Pattern
Key OOP Concepts in the Composite Pattern
Example: Music Playlists
Example: Animating Composite Objects Using Inverse Kinematics
Using Flash's Built-in Composite Structure: the Display List
Summary
Part IV. BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS
7. Command Pattern
What Is the Command Pattern?
Minimalist Example of a Command Pattern
Key OOP Concepts in the Command Pattern
Minimalist Example: Macro Commands
Example: Number Manipulator
Extended Example: Sharing Command Objects
Extended Example: Implementing Undo
Example: Podcast Radio
Extended Example: Dynamic Command Object Assignment
Summary
8. Observer Pattern
What Is the Observer Pattern?
Key OOP Concepts Used with the Observer Pattern
Minimalist Abstract Observer
Example: Adding States and Identifying Users
Dynamically Changing States
Example: Working with Different Data Displays
Summary
9. Template Method Pattern
What Is the Template Method Pattern?
Key OOP Concepts Used with the Template Method
Minimalist Example: Abstract Template Method
Employing Flexibility in the Template Method
Selecting and Playing Sound and Video
Hooking It Up
Summary
10. State Pattern
Design Pattern to Create a State Machine
Key OOP Concepts Used with the State Pattern
Minimalist Abstract State Pattern
Video Player Concrete State Application
Expanding the State Design: Adding States
Adding More States and Streaming Capabilities
Summary
11. Strategy Pattern
What Is the Strategy Pattern?
Key OOP Concepts Used with the Strategy Pattern
Minimalist Abstract State Pattern
Adding More Concrete Strategies and Concrete Contexts
Working with String Strategies
Summary
Part V. MULTIPLE PATTERNS
12. Model-View-Controller Pattern
What Is the Model-View-Controller (MVC) Pattern?
Communication Between the MVC Elements
Embedded Patterns in the MVC
Minimalist Example of an MVC Pattern
Key OOP Concepts in the MVC Pattern
Example: Weather Maps
Extended Example: Infrared Weather Maps
Example: Cars
Custom Views
Adding a Chase Car
Summary
13. Symmetric Proxy Pattern
Simultaneous Game Moves and Outcomes
The Symmetric Proxy Pattern
Key OOP Concepts Used with the Symmetric Proxy
The Player Interface
The Referee
Information Shared Over the Internet
Player-Proxy Classes
Classes and Document Files Support
Summary