Rating: 
Summary: Learning where to start...
Review: I was in an ActionScript training class when the instructor mentioned object-oriented programming. He spent as much time explaining it as it takes to read this sentence. Somehow I know it was "the big picture" for success with ActionScript.As an ActionScript novice, it was important to me to learn the basics besides the "stop();" command. When you need to immerse yourself in a programming language, it is equally important to be shown the elements of building in that language as 3-dimensionally as possible. That's what William Drol does with this book. While he makes no assumptions about the user's skill level, he does assume that the programmer want to learn "the value of good planning and good coding". That's what I've learned from using this book. As a multimedia developer, planning is paramount. I believe this book will show you a way of thinking to help ease the planning process and make the discipline of coding easier. I look forward to working on future projects now in Flash MX, with the confidence of having Mr. Drol's book as a solid foundation and reference to guide me.
Rating: 
Summary: Good OOP can still be bad Actionscript
Review: I'd originally written a more positive review, but I've reconsidered. There's a comment somewhere below that says something like "Drol's trying to shoehorn Flash into a paradigm that it doesn't fit" and that's really right. OOP is the focus here, and Flash does do OOP, but in a very quirky way. Specificly, inheiritance--one of the three key concepts in OOP--simply doesn't work well in Flash. You just have to plan your code differently. It's worth noting that Wan and Hall, authors of the definitive OOP in Flash book "OOP in Actionscript" suggest that *you don't use inheiritance* unless there's no other way to structure your code. Unlike Drol, Wan and Hall are among the most active and helpful coders in the Flash programming world. They know what they're talking about. Drol doesn't even mention some of the problems his approach to inheiritance can cause (specifically, firing an object's constructor function twice with each child object created). It's for Drol irresponsible to outline an approach like this that isn't aware of the substantial work that others in the Flash community have done to address and work around the problem. A complex application built Drol's way could have real problems in Flash. Flash MX's component architecture is actually an extremely powerful flexible OOP system. But where Drol doesn't mention it at all, Wan and Hall devote several chapters to it. Ther's also just not too much meat on the bones. The examples really are pretty bad: bouncing balls? Yet another dynamic menu system? Instructional, but hardly inspiring, and they show up in *every* Flash book ever printed. (Tip to aspiring authors: find a graphic designer who can make your example projects really special. Don't use ugly "programmer graphics.") Drol is a programmer first, and a Flasher second, which means he's opposed to workarounds to accomodate Flash's admittedly weird ways of doing things. There are places where he just doesn't go that deep, like Components or text handling. Again, these aren't the focus of the book, but things like that really are the basis of most Flash projects. A final comparison to Wan and Hall's "OOP in Actionscript": Hall and Wan do cover Flash-specific concepts (like Components) in painful, astounding detail. They also aren't shy about digging into Flash's guts to build a workaround. Where Drol tends to keep his instrucitonal code examples short, at times at the expense of performance or flexibility, Wan and Hall have no qualms about tossing a two-page script out and expecting you to get it. In their book, new and complex topics fly past faster than you can think, sometimes even within code comments. Drol never does this, preferring to simplify and explain fundamentals. Finally, where's the fun? Flash's appeal is that people with varied skills and interests can still do cool stuff with it. There are a lot of books that manage to preserve this spirit of play and experimentation, even when covering dense technical topics (again, Wan and Hall manage this). Drol's projects are dry and without real-world appeal. Why not build an object-based game? Or a small useful application, like a RSS-feed reader?
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book
Review: I've read countless books on ActionScripting and this one is by far the best. The author obviously has a talent for teaching that puts this book heads and shoulders above many other Flash ActionScript books that have received excellent reviews on this site. Get this book if you REALLY want to understand not only how to use ActionScripting but WHY you want to use it. I can't tell you how may Ah Ha! moments I've had reading it. Excellent!
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to follow
Review: If you are new to object-oriented programming, this book can be very difficult to get through. The exercises can be dry and often do not really apply to real-world problems. Also, there are no examples included (no cd).
Rating:
Summary: The examples let the intention down badly
Review: My first reaction to this book was to admire the intention behind it. However, the graphicial content of the book (viz, example projects and screenshots) oscillate between being too primitive on the one hand, ann too narrowly scoped on the other. If memory serves me there are probably no more than half-a-dozen flash screenshots throughout the body of the text. Really a bad oversight. I don't quibble with the coding. The book is trying to shoehorn Actionscript into a paradigm for which it is still unprepared. I do think that many more useful examples could have been developed. The book could do with being rubbed up against some of the VB intro books (and Java) to help guide topic selection for the next edition - if there is one. In particular, I like to see algorithms described in psuedo-code, before being nailed down into actual code. There are some useful points made about parent-child inheritance and child-child inheritance, many of which resonate with experienced VB programmers. One of the strengths of VB is its Multiple Document Interface support and the author could have stuck in something here to illuminate the contrast. Even though Actionscript is an ECMA script compliant language, I can't think of any book that actually treats 'data structures' in actionscript - some of the games books do present good algorithmic work. In an OO book, I had expected this lacuna to be addressed, but I'll await another edition. I learnt some useful things from this book, but I still can't quite accept it as an OO book. Certainly, I doubt if one could get a purchase on a breath of design in OO through this book, but perhaps I am mistaken here. My most serious reseervation about the text is that it doesn't give the reader enough exposure to foster respect for any particular design paradigm. For instance, a UML subset could have been introduced as programme design methodology. And this in many ways is the nub of my problem with the book. If the text is about programming then it should reference and use programming design standards. If it is about Visual Programme assembly (putting the movie togeher) then bring in the relevant aesthetic approach. You pays your money and takes your chance, I suppose, in the long run.
Rating:
Summary: The examples let the intention down badly
Review: My first reaction to this book was to admire the intention behind it. However, the graphicial content of the book (viz, example projects and screenshots) oscillate between being too primitive on the one hand, ann too narrowly scoped on the other. If memory serves me there are probably no more than half-a-dozen flash screenshots throughout the body of the text. Really a bad oversight. I don't quibble with the coding. The book is trying to shoehorn Actionscript into a paradigm for which it is still unprepared. I do think that many more useful examples could have been developed. The book could do with being rubbed up against some of the VB intro books (and Java) to help guide topic selection for the next edition - if there is one. In particular, I like to see algorithms described in psuedo-code, before being nailed down into actual code. There are some useful points made about parent-child inheritance and child-child inheritance, many of which resonate with experienced VB programmers. One of the strengths of VB is its Multiple Document Interface support and the author could have stuck in something here to illuminate the contrast. Even though Actionscript is an ECMA script compliant language, I can't think of any book that actually treats 'data structures' in actionscript - some of the games books do present good algorithmic work. In an OO book, I had expected this lacuna to be addressed, but I'll await another edition. I learnt some useful things from this book, but I still can't quite accept it as an OO book. Certainly, I doubt if one could get a purchase on a breath of design in OO through this book, but perhaps I am mistaken here. My most serious reseervation about the text is that it doesn't give the reader enough exposure to foster respect for any particular design paradigm. For instance, a UML subset could have been introduced as programme design methodology. And this in many ways is the nub of my problem with the book. If the text is about programming then it should reference and use programming design standards. If it is about Visual Programme assembly (putting the movie togeher) then bring in the relevant aesthetic approach. You pays your money and takes your chance, I suppose, in the long run.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Concept Book, But Don't Expect to Build Anything Usefu
Review: Not formally trained as an OO programmer, it's something I've come in to over the years. Building applications in Flash MX (particularly if you are working with Flash Remoting or the Flash Communication Server) really requires an understanding of OO principles and practices. I've read a couple of books on the subject, and none have been as clear about building objects and classes in Flash as this one. It's clear, concise, and an easy read. It makes understanding how to make objects and classes in Flash MX a breeze. That said, the book doesn't really build anything useful. The menu system that is implemented is solid, if uninspiring. Covering small, OO applications that did more than simulate gravity and display very simple XML files would have made this book great.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT book - don't let the [bad] cover fool you!
Review: The cover art really REALLY [stinks] on this book, but the pages inside are friggen fantastic info! I got through the first 150 pages in a couple of hours. it's easy to read I've been calling myself and expert actionscripter for about 2 years now, but I've always felt I could use some brushing up on creating classes, building components, reusing my code, inheritence, contructors, prototypes, __proto__, #initclips, Objects... and so on. If you don't understand what I just wrote, this book is not for you. I came across this book and now I realize I could have been saving myself a lot of time if I would have just learned how to code like this a year ago. If you want to call yourself a Flash Programmer, you have to know this book. You have to absorb it's teachings and save yourself hours and hours of time repurposing old code. I look forward to comparing this book against Branden Hall's new one.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book that will save you time on your projects
Review: This book is one of the best Flash books on the market. I have read well over 15 books on the subject and this ranks as one of the best. I was forced to read almost half of another un-named book to figure out how to convert an XML newsfeed into my Flash site at work. If I had only been able to read chapter 24 in this book first, I could have saved about a day's work! That function alone was well worth the price of the entire book! And yes, I had to use 'the hard way' described at the beginning of that chapter.
The other projects in the book lead you through an easy-to-follow process, and each chapter adds on the previous one so by the end, you have many awesome, time-saving functions that you can RE-USE from project to project.
One last thing, although I havent read through all the appendices, I found an in appendix B (Interacting with a Web Server) an easy method to bring my data into Flash. (he uses XML but it worked just as easily for me using PHP and MySQL)
Thats what this book does, it breaks down (once thought difficult) processes into easy to do and easy to use functions. I recommend this book whole-heartedly.
Rating:
Summary: Great book!!
Review: This was an excellent book that will teach you a ton of stuff, and is very worth every penny. It was easy to read, and it gives you a very firm foundation of practices to use in producing object oriented code. There are times while reading this book that I would actually shout out because of how simple this guy makes it! If there is a downside to my review it would be that there is nothing about components or using listeners, but this will get you geared towards that by teaching you sound techniques that you should have if you want to build them! There are two OOP books for flash out there, and I couldn't say which one is better, so the only solution is .... Get them both!! This one and the one by Sam Wan and Branden Hall. You will be a scripting god!
| 
