Rating: 
Summary: Not Advanced but does cover basics for app dev
Review: As the others had mentioned, I felt a little mislead when purchansing this book. From the very beggining the book assumes you know very little AS. Also no PHP yet a couple of .NET and a whole lot more CFM and JSP examples where available. Apart from that it does cover topics which you will run into for certification.
Rating: 
Summary: Flash MX Professional 2004 Application Development
Review: I am writing this in mid-October 2004 after just having finished the book. I honestly wonder if the guy that posted a review in early Oct. actually tried to work through it.
Do NOT buy this book! Wait for the next edition. (Or buy a used copy keeping what I am about to tell you in mind.) It is outdated even though it just came out in April 2004. In July of 2004, Flash Professional MX 2004 was updated to version 7.2 which was actually a minor free (patch) upgrade. However, it had significant changes for those using Flash Professional for Rich Internet Applications (AKA Flash screen based development). Most other Flash books are not affected, as this is really the only book that is advanced enough to go into screens based development and Flash Remoting in Flash MX Professional 2004 in detail.
The book itself is actually very good as far as tech how-to books go. However, starting in Chapter 9 (the book has 16 chapters overall) it totally starts to fall apart. The way that you capture events thrown to the page in an external actionscript class file has changed. All of the code presented in the book on how to do this will no longer work. This obviously includes all of the included example files. It no longer works because the upgrade added a new class for dealing with this. It is not obvious. It took me quite awhile to track down the fix (which actually ends up just being a class import and then rewriting your event listeners so they use this imported class). You then have to recognize where this is done throughout the rest of the book and recode accordingly. The Macromedia forums were no help either as of this writing (saw lots of postings saying gee this doesn't work, but no solution). Finally figured out it had something to do with the upgrade, as someone said it stopped working after that. If you do buy this book, then go read what changes took place with the 7.2 upgrade in the Flash Dev Center on Macromedia's site. You will be able to figure out how to fix it.
Also, Chapter 14 is all about using Flash Remoting. When the book was written Flash Remoting was not yet updated to use AS 2.0, and as such you couldn't reference AS files externally by import statements (which is the main point of this book). Instead, you are given the directions for using include files on the main timeline. The author admits in the book that this will probably change soon to use AS 2.0. It did, and in a big way. The two main classes you are taught to use have also been 'depreciated' and replaced by something else. So, not only do you have to figure out how to convert it to work (which isn't a big deal) but also you have to rewrite it using new classes (which are detailed well in the updated Help files -thank you Macromedia).
Don't get me wrong, I learned a ton from this book. However, I am also already a certified .NET developer comfortable with coding and finding answers in Help files, online, etc. I just want anyone who buys this book to know what they are getting into. The 'errata' page for the book still states 'none found so far' which is ridiculous and there doesn't seem to be much forum help either. (Lots of activity for the other less advanced non-screens based, non-pro, Flash MX 2004 book though.)
My advice is to buy this used, keeping in mind what I said, or wait for the next edition. Or better yet, save the $ and learn from the tutorials online on Macromedia's site. That really isn't an option for a beginner, but if you have coding experience it might be less painful (and is more up to date) than this book.
Rating: 
Summary: you need to know one thing when you get to chap 9
Review: mx.utils.delegate. Just do a search on macromedia's web site of
"What is the significance of Elipsis" Mike Chambers of Macromedia explains it very clearly in this article, in simple terms. This is not hard. They just came up with something similar to the Observer class of Java. It is easy to make the changes when working through the examples, just takes a second.
1) The author really makes it easy with the examples. She provides examples at every stage, you don't have to code everything. That increases the pace of getting through the book as you can gloss over things you are pretty familiar with and still run the examples easily.
2) She clearly has taught in her life, is a professional teacher in some sense. Has strong communication skills.
3) She covers the essentials clearly.
I consider this a pretty good book for programmers who want to make the transition from a Javascript like mode of programming to a more structured Java-like one using Actionscript 2.0, and to use the built in Framework provided by MX 2004. I am not saying this book is fabulous, but I am not aware of a better book covering the same material.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly Written
Review: My disappointment with this book is it lacks natural flow. I found myself drifting out of thought because the book has you shuffling files around every other page. I also share the discouraging fact that you must work through six chapters (half the book) before you are really engaged in "Application Development".
There seems to be a rash of poorly written books emerging under the heading of Flash MX 2004 - 2004 Pro and the best way to gage the relevancy of a new book before you buy it is to see how well the resale price is holding up in the used book market. If the price has dropped significantly after the release, you probable should buy something else or buy it used so you do not end up kicking yourself later. This one is already half of its list price; could it be that only half of it is worth paying for?
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre Reference Book
Review: On a scale of 1-10 this book rates a 6. It is not a bad book, but not a good one either. It rates mediocre because of the approach that the author chose and the lack of continuity. At first glance it appears that the book is for the novice actionscript user, then 50 pages into the first chapter the author jumps into intermediate instruction. On a good note, this book does make an excellent reference material in addition to having another Flash actionscripting book.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre Reference Book
Review: On a scale of 1-10 this book rates a 6. It is not a bad book, but not a good one either. It rates mediocre because of the approach that the author chose and the lack of continuity. At first glance it appears that the book is for the novice actionscript user, then 50 pages into the first chapter the author jumps into intermediate instruction. On a good note, this book does make an excellent reference material in addition to having another Flash actionscripting book.
Rating:
Summary: This book should come with a warning
Review: This book is for Actionscript 1.0!!!! Let me say that again, THIS BOOK IS FOR ACTIONSCRIPT 1.0!!!! Do not buy this if you have the letest version of Flash MX 2004 with actionscript 2.0. Up until the 9th chapter or so it woks alright. After that it all falls apart. The excersises become almost impossible because of the difference between the two versions. I bought this book based on the reviews writen on this site. None mentioned this fact so I am writing this so that anyone else who looks at this book is aware right away. Wait for an updated book. This really should be pulled or a warning should be put somewhere that this is not for the latest version. I hope that I can save someone else some money buy letting them know eactly what is in this book. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!! (Unless you are still using actionscript 1.0, in which case disregard everything I have said here today)
Rating:
Summary: Good training guide
Review: This is a great starting point if you are new to flash application development. It covers all the basics of what you need to know in order to start developing RIA's using Flash MX 2004.It's *NOT* an "advanced" book by any means, and it's not a reference, but it IS a good book if you want to learn. It mirrors Jeanette's training course that she developed for Macromedia (she is a Macromedia employee).
Rating:
Summary: Good training guide
Review: This is a great starting point if you are new to flash application development. It covers all the basics of what you need to know in order to start developing RIA's using Flash MX 2004. It's *NOT* an "advanced" book by any means, and it's not a reference, but it IS a good book if you want to learn. It mirrors Jeanette's training course that she developed for Macromedia (she is a Macromedia employee).
Rating:
Summary: I should have known better
Review: This might be a good book, but it's not what I was looking for. Although the title featured is the correct one, the cover of the book is incorrect. This is NOT the Rich Internet Applications Development Advanced book. So beware!
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