Rating: 
Summary: A must have on my shelf
Review: Flash has come a long way from a toy to a full fledged development environment. With any such complexities, any methodologies that can help organize and standardize coding practices will always benefit a project. I have read through a bunch of Flash books and until now the only book that I have found useful has been ASDG by Orielly.OOP with ActionScript is another book that every Flash developer should have on their shelf. I have researched and like many, thought and exchanged ideas on the implications of coding methods in Flash and what ramifications that has on the end product. This book is a must have for anyone who is serous about OOP with ActionScript or Component Development. Having coded using OOP principals for a while now I still found this book very informative. My Specific interests lie in the decision on how to implement certain code in Flash. The book mentions what methods the authors prefer when implementing OOP and the other available options and why they decide to do things the way they did. This is very useful information that would take many days to collect and does not exist in any single source anywhere that I know of. The coverage of components is also very good. I have built simple components and was looking to building more advanced components. This book covers all component principals from the beginning which just simple component to the complex components which use inheritance concepts.... With all this I would also say that this book is very good for anyone who has no background in OOP. I read through the beginning chapters and still got something out of them. It takes you from the beginning and leads you to understanding what OOP really is, and how it is implemented in Flash. So now you are wondering who is this book not for? I would say anyone who has very minimal experience with ActionScript might want to hold off on this book (you will end up buying this book eventually though). This book will not tell you how to create conditional loops or target an object. It is a book for anyone who has been coding and is comfortable in Flash and is looking to improve and refine their skills the right way. If you have been coding in Flash, read ASDG, are currently coding using OOP methods, or looking to learn what the OOP craze is all about then this book is a must have.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read For Intermediate Flash Developers!
Review: Flash is no longer a toy! In fact, after reading this book, I'd just assume getting rid of "standard" web pages altogether! This book is, as far as I know, the only book out there that really explores the full power of Flash MX. I was stuck in the intermediate level of flash development, using Flash 5 "hacks" to get the job done. I needed an advanced source of information so I could learn how to take my projects a step further. Without any formal education in the concept and theories of OOP, I had only a few online tutorials to turn to, and they were lacking at best. With the help of this book, I was bale to make the intellectual leap into the world of OOP, and creat really powerful and re-usable flash objects. Branden and Sam really know their stuff, and without a whole lot of "OOP for Dummies" content, they jump right in and give you the lowdown on OOP in actionscript. If you are interested in creating serious flash applications, this book is the way to go!
Rating:
Summary: Makes me smarter!
Review: I don't really want to be a programmer; I just want to develop a complex application for my company in Flash MX. After decades of involvement with app development as a CPA I want to now do the whole project myself. Hall and Wan inspired me to reach a little higher at the Flash MX conferences and their simplification of complex programming in "OOP with AS" is dragging me to create functionality I never dreamed was possible - especially by me. My old Flash 5 prototype is headed for the scrap head. My previous programming experience - Fortran and punch cards in the mid-70's :-) - jim
Rating: 
Summary: Now for programmers!
Review: I have always felt that Flash was a designer-only tool, inaccessible to the likes of programmers. This book tries to change all that by making Flash development accessible to programmers. I believe the book is also designed for designers who want to understand OOP in ActionScript. After a brief introduction to OOP (which is all done through UML) and ActionScript syntax, the reader is presented with constructing an application from start to finish. I was particularly pleased that this example uses the famous MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern, familiar to many OOP programmers. After completing this chapter, the reader will have a good understanding of the basics of OOP in ActionScript. The next section of the book discusses many of the tiny details in the previous chapter in much more depth. There is discussion on using pre-built Flash components in your application as well as building your own components. Each of these topics are covered in sufficient depth to satisfy the reader. The final section of the book seems to be "everything else you need to know about Flash and ActionScript". This section includes a discussion on debugging your application, useful tips and tricks, and even an introduction to Flash remoting.
Rating:
Summary: Now for programmers!
Review: I have always felt that Flash was a designer-only tool, inaccessible to the likes of programmers. This book tries to change all that by making Flash development accessible to programmers. I believe the book is also designed for designers who want to understand OOP in ActionScript. After a brief introduction to OOP (which is all done through UML) and ActionScript syntax, the reader is presented with constructing an application from start to finish. I was particularly pleased that this example uses the famous MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern, familiar to many OOP programmers. After completing this chapter, the reader will have a good understanding of the basics of OOP in ActionScript. The next section of the book discusses many of the tiny details in the previous chapter in much more depth. There is discussion on using pre-built Flash components in your application as well as building your own components. Each of these topics are covered in sufficient depth to satisfy the reader. The final section of the book seems to be "everything else you need to know about Flash and ActionScript". This section includes a discussion on debugging your application, useful tips and tricks, and even an introduction to Flash remoting.
Rating:
Summary: Super
Review: I heard that this book had changed the way some programmers viewed ActionScript and I just had to check it out. I didn't plan on reading 5 chapters on components. Now I wish there were more. I do a lot of JavaScript and DHTML programming and learned some new tricks in this book. The event broadcaster was a real find and the coverage of event handling was outstanding. I would probably never have seriously considered using an object strictly for data-storage, other than an array, but the discussion on the DataProvider opens new doors. I've written complex applications in ActionScript and still found this book to be an education. It makes me feel like everthing I've done in the past was a hack and that if I had read this first, I could have spent more time with the kids! Subtle differences in programming style and the extensive coverage of components makes this book an ideal companion for ActionScript for Flash MX, The Definitive Guide. This is not the book to read the first day you download Flash MX, but explanations of the concepts are complete enough for the relative novice. I also enjoyed the tales at the beginning of each chapter. Nice style!
Rating:
Summary: Great book even for advanced ActionScripters
Review: I never review books on Amazon, but I had to chime in on this one. I've been using Flash since version 2, and I like to think that I'm doing some pretty heavy stuff with ActionScript. However, just the first few chapters of this book swept away a cloud in my head. I knew about Object Oriented design & structure, and about listeners & event engines and such, but this book made a lot of things very clear about the application of these concepts. I think that you accomplished ActionScripters out there will still find this book enlightening, and for those of you that know AS somewhat, reading this book will put you on the right path.
Rating:
Summary: Worth its weight in GOLD
Review: I would have payed double the price for the information inside. When it comes to correct coding techniques using Flash, this book supercedes all the others.
Rating:
Summary: A very good effort
Review: I would say that there are a few things that could be done better, but not that much. Specifically the explanation of prototype theory could be a bit clearer. But, overall, I'm finding the book answers many questions I have had, which have not be adequately answered elsewhere. If you want to get a jump on best-practices, I would say this is the place to get it - you'd have to pay very good money for instruction to get what you're getting here. I would say the book is worth it's weight in gold.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite ActionScript Book
Review: I've been a C++/Java programmer for 6 years and I have to say, this book is wonderful. I've never before heard such a clear disposition on what a prototype based language is before and that's so critical in understanding how to do good OOP in Flash. This book is great. Right before I bought it, I puposed to write a dynamic image slide component, and loh and behold, that's the example they use to describe component development in flash. You've got to love it when that happens!
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