Editorial Reviews. Book Description. A Beginner's Guide. About the Author. Rich Shupe has been teaching ActionScript programming to students of all levels.
Table of contents
- Learning ActionScript 3.0
- Getting Started with AS3: The Absolute Beginner ~Part 1~ « AS3 Game Tutorials
- (Download) PDF Learning ActionScript 3.0 (A Beginner s Guide)
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I did find Chapter 2 "Core Language I have been working with computers, networks, etc. I found this book to be very frustrating and lacking. The authors do not present information in a manner that is geared towards someone new to ActionScript 3, programming, and Flash Pro. I found the information presented to be confusing. At times key points required to find the details of a topic being discussed are missing.
Other times key information needed to make commands work were left out. I found the book ActionScript 3 Bible to be a better resource. I did find Chapter 2 "Core Language Fundamentals" to be helpful, but for those not familiar with logic tables some additional guidance on how these tables are setup would be nice. Examples of where I found Learning ActionScript 3 to be particularly frustrating Chapter 1 includes a discussion about the difference between Procedural versus Object Oriented Programming. The authors state that they will try to begin with Procedural syntax as much as possible to keep things simple, and that in Chapter 6 they present Object Oriented Programming.
Learning ActionScript 3.0
Then they move into a short discussion on aspects of Object Oriented Programming. The discussion is not necessary at this point, and drowns out several of the simple but key programming concepts they introduce. In Chapter 4 the authors discuss the new "Display List" in ActionScript 3 and share how important and vital it is to understand this new feature.
The chapter created more confusion than clarity. However when the commands provided are incorporated into the sample code provided, the code errors out. The sample code provided for this chapter begins to work with a more advanced way of incorporating images into Flash projects. Using this method at this point in time makes it more difficult to understand the concepts of how to work with, and manage, displayed objects.
The chapter lacks clear instruction and guidance on how to use and integrate the concepts being presented. In Chapter 5 the authors discuss the Timeline and Timeline control. One of the example scripts they discuss and provide has Timeline details embedded within a picture object. They do not tell the reader this is the case, or explain how to access and view the detail. If you are new to Flash Pro and do not have previous experience with the Timeline you won't be able to find, or see, what they are talking about in the book.
This is not a good approach for a chapter that is supposed to explain how to work with, and control, the Timeline. There are better resources available for both the beginner and the experienced ActionScript 3 programmer than this book. From the description of this book I assumed it would be good for beginners.
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I have never programmed before, but am good at teaching myself things with instructions and have learned many programs that way. Unfortunately 4 chapters in I was very lost and was forced to trudge through, assuming eventually it would all make sense. The writing is very roundabout. I would have liked a simpler writing style that didn't assume knowledge on the reader's part. There is a lot of good information, but be prepared to watch online tutorials to supplement these lessons.
Getting Started with AS3: The Absolute Beginner ~Part 1~ « AS3 Game Tutorials
It was also frustrating to have missing files. There were to be some files to download from an online site. After downloading the files, there were many demo files that weren't even mentioned in the text, but the one mentioned in the text was frequently missing. I wish there was a simpler book to begin with. This would have been a good follow up. One person found this helpful.
Other then the fact the book came with the outer cover unglued it is in great condition.
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The book was requested by our teacher in a Flash animations class. Going through the book there have been a few mistakes with the codes that they have supplied and they dwell to much on action script. Though it is important to know i would like to have learned more about the other functions but other then that its very helpful. As a graphic designer and a raw newcomer to both Flash and ActionScript, I enthusiastically give this book my highest recommendation.
I found the writing clear, simple, on point and even a pleasure to read most of the time and I hate reading software how-to books in general. The chapters are organized to be taken in order, going from the background through the basics to some pretty advanced concepts in a steady, measured process that in due time ends up covering most of the potential uses of ActionScript in Flash. For me, the best approach was to treat this exactly like learning a new language. Once I got used to a few basic rules of syntax and developed some grasp of the vocabulary, things got a whole lot easier.
Breaking down the code examples given in the book became analogous to the conversational exercises you go through when learning, say, Italian or French. I read the other reviews here and in response I'll say this is not a step by step recipe book, though it does contain loads of code I'm adapting for use in real projects. Tackling something like this should involve spending time figuring things out.
But as I said, I'm a total beginner and a right-brain type who isn't well suited to the kind of thinking process that comes naturally to programmers and I managed to get through it without much difficulty. I enjoyed pushing myself to try things that went beyond the exercises the authors repeatedly encourage this throughout the book.
Before long I began inventing examples of my own. I did find a small mistake in one code example, but it took me all of about 20 seconds to identify the problem and fix it.
(Download) PDF Learning ActionScript 3.0 (A Beginner s Guide)
One reader mentioned the cover coming off the paperback. That's true, I had the same problem with my copy and had to use a hot glue gun to reattach it. This book will stay on my shelf as a ready reference as I continue to explore ActionScript and Flash. When I was deciding which book to buy I initially hesitated on this one because I thought the price was high and I wasn't sure I'd be able to understand it.
The material in the book itself, the accompanying web site and all the references to other sources are more than worth the price. If I had to limit myself to only one book about ActionScript 3. What other items do customers buy after viewing this item? Product details Paperback Publisher: Related Video Shorts 0 Upload your video. Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. Read reviews that mention learning actionscript beginners guide rich shupe code examples colin moock zevan rosser shupe and zevan new to actionscript starting point long time trying to learn able to understand want to learn job of explaining essential actionscript learning actionscript object oriented highly recommend beginning to intermediate book is a great.
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Please try again later. I think the book does a great job explaining all of the intricate details of OOP for experienced Actionscript users. I have used AS2 for a long time and I was very frustrated how so much had changed in AS3 and I never seemed to find a good book to explain each change. This book does that and more. Agile, XP, Waterfall, etc. You know, all of those acronyms and other garbage that people through into job descriptions to intimidate newbies. I'm inclined to agree that this book may not be suited for beginners to Actionscript, I would strongly recommend that anyone who is learning AS for the first time should grab a beginner's book maybe a cheap one and then use this as your professional reference guide.
Everything is categorized and color coded for you: Need to attach a sound? Need to read XML? Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I haven't worked through it all yet, but I'm finding this text very useful so far! I'm not quite a complete beginner, and had a minor amount of tuition in Action Script 2 before reading this, but I'm definitely not at the stage where I feel comfortable with Action Script.
I found this book appropriate for someone at my level.
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In my opinion, the textbook is clear and easy to read. I'm taking notes, looking at the backup resources, and checking specific errors online, which are all things I'd recommend doing anyway with any text. It does require some thought and concentration to get benefits out of it, but for people who are willing to put in the effort and don't have a short attention span, this is a great Action Script resource.
This book was purchased after reading a rave review about it. Typically, it is possible to learn some ActionScript while learning Flash. But ActionScript goes beyond Flash in the world of Adobe animation and interfaces. So ActionScript can be a topic all on its own and that's where this book makes its best connection. Keep in mind that it is a Beginner's Guide. And that means there's more to Flash than this honest title implies. The book lives up to the title and is a good entry point for those who are just beginning the ActionScript journey.
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I consider myself a designer and front end programmer, who wanted to get more into programming, with flash AS3 as the vehicle. This is the best resource I have found hands down for learning AS3! I work with a top notch Flash developer, and the best Flash advice I have recieved is to completely abandon the timeline, and my build my sites purely with AS3. While very challenging in the beginning, doors will open with your site design. I have read through this book numerous times and a year later its all starting to click. The final xml driven, dropdown navigation system project in the end of the book really puts it all together and is invaluable.
Once you get a handle on timeline based design, you will find limitations, and understand the need to learn AS3. Next step after this book is "Essential ActionScript 3.