Lingo in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)) (Paperback)

~ Bruce Epstein (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Once again, O'Reilly scores big with a comprehensive treatment of a programming language that doesn't spend much time teaching the fundamentals. Lingo in a Nutshell sets a benchmark for Lingo documentation that no other book or online resource meets.

Lingo in a Nutshell has to do with behind-the-scenes aspects of Lingo, including file management, data structures, loops, conditionals, and event handlers. Simply put, this book treats Lingo as a programming language, rather than merely as a piece of Macromedia Director. The coverage you'll find in Lingo in a Nutshell backs up the more obviously practical material found in this book's companion volume, Director in a Nutshell. This book also features an excellent chapter called "How Lingo Thinks," which explains how the various pieces of a Lingo-controlled presentation fit together.

Like most Nutshell books, Lingo in a Nutshell includes a very good language reference in addition to its tutorial and explanatory materials. Listing Lingo's enumerated values, keywords, and commands in full--including some otherwise undocumented ones--this reference makes it easy to locate the information you need as you write programs. The only minor drawback of this book is that it doesn't cover the changes made to Lingo in the newly released Director 7. --David Wall

Product Description

This companion book to Director in a Nutshell covers all aspects of Lingo, Director's powerful scripting language, and is the book for which both Director users and power Lingo programmers have been yearning. An essential tool for both new and experienced Lingo programmers, this concise guide explains how Lingo "thinks" and includes many programming examples as well as undocumented commands. In typical nutshell style, Lingo in a Nutshell explores the syntax, structure, and commands of the language. It includes numerous useful Lingo examples, corrects many errors found in Macromedia's Lingo documentation, and details dozens of misdocumented and undocumented Lingo keywords that are omitted from Macromedia's manuals and third-party books. Detailed chapters describe messages, events, scripts, handlers, variables, lists, file I/O, Behaviors, child objects, Xtras, and more. Lingo in a Nutshell caters to the huge pool of Director users attempting to bridge the Lingo gap, yet provides the details for the experienced Linguist that are lacking in other Lingo books.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 609 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 1st edition (November 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565924932
• ISBN-13: 978-1565924932
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #963,486 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent insight on Object Orientated Lingo Programming, November 2, 1999

By A Customer

I have tried all the other books on Director & Lingo and only this book dares and succeeds to actually cover real programming in Lingo.

For all the real programmers out there read this book and the secrets of Lingo will be opend up to you.

As for Macromedia I would pay Bruce Epstein as much money as he wants for the rights to these books and then you should ship them with Director as your manuals are a insult to the power of Director and especially Lingo. If Macromedia truly wants people to use Director to the full then only this book will show them how to do it !

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, but not up to date!, July 3, 2000

By	M. Pessoa (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a valuable reference, but before you buy it, PLEASE take note of the fact that it was published two years ago and Director has undergone two upgrades since then. This book won't teach you about any of the new Lingo introduced in Director 7 and 8.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the book of books, January 26, 1999

By A Customer

As a C++ programmer, I thought "Director? Lingo? UUUHHHH! just another primitive script language." After working with Director for 2 years Bruce's book showed me that Lingo is not just another primitive dumb script language. This book ( i own about ten books about Director and Lingo + the oringinal documentation) showed me hidden features of the language, I never thought that they even existed.Full score, Bruce. By the way: this should not be the first book you ever read about director.