Macromedia Flash MX Actionscripting: Advanced Training from the Source [With CDROM]

by Jobe Makar and Derek Franklin

Shows how to translate real-world applications using Flash into scripts that students can use and modify as their understanding of Flash programming expands. This hands-on workbook and CD package for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201770229
• ISBN13: 9780201770223
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Macromedia Press
• Length: 616 Pages
• Weight: 2.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Great textbook for Internet multimedia course

For a very long time, I have been looking for a textbook for my course on Internet Multimedia. This is a course where students should go beyond basic Flash tweening and button pressing. There are many books about Flash and ActionScript. Unfortunately not many of them were suitable for such a course. Finally, I found exactly what I needed - this was the book by Derek Franklin. This book goes beyond the basics and introduces ActionScripting in a way that can be easily adopted for a university course. In each chapter, the author introduces theory and then, using examples, shows how to apply this theory. Examples are completed step by step with a detailed explanation of how each technique works. This way, he achieved a very well designed mix of a lecture and tutorial. As we know this kind of mix works well for all students. Even weak students can easily follow this text. The selection of topics in this book is quite impressive. It covers most of the concepts of ActionScript in Flash MX including using Flash with XML, online applications, as well as an almost complete syntax of ActionScript. There are hundreds of examples guiding us through each topic. However, there are no end-of-chapter examples, and if you wish to adopt this book for a course, you will have to invent them on your own. It is important to note the style of writing of this book. It is precise, with NOT too much talking; very clear and easy to follow. In fact, I was reading this book like an interesting novel. The language of this book is not too crowded with technical terms and jargon. So, if you are looking for an ActionScript programmer's guide or an ActionScript reference book, this is the wrong choice. However, if you are looking for a good textbook with strong pedagogical values, this is just the right book for you. In the next academic year, I am going to use this as the textbook for my course.

Everything I Ever Wanted To Know About ActionScript

When I upgraded to Flash MX, I made a resolution to learn how to use ActionScript (which I'd been deathly afraid of since Flash 4), so I went out and bought the biggest "How-To" book I could find and worked through all the exercises.I was very impressed by the capabilities of ActionScript the book's projects demonstrated, but felt like I was working more on my typing skills than developing any true understanding of the subject. The lessons always boiled down to "type this here, now type this there, now save and test your movie. Isn't that great?!" Yes, the final product WAS great, but I couldn't always figure out the reasoning behind the steps I was following. My frustration led me back to the bookstore, to look for a book that would tell me something about WHY to use ActionScript rather than simply HOW to use it. I picked up a copy of Macromedia Flash MX ActionScripting: Advanced Training From The Source, read the Introduction, glanced through some of the exercises and bought it there on the spot. As the authors state in the Introduction, every single line of code in the book is explained, describing exactly what's going on every step of the way. I'm about halfway through it now and already have such an improved understanding of ActionScript that I've been able to play around with the projects in the book, adding my own code as well as altering the code that's already there. The book not only gives you an increased understanding of the logic and reasoning behind ActionScript, but also some illuminating insights into the way Flash uses and interprets that code "behind the scenes".Another advantage to buying the book is the co-author's on-line resource, ... In addition to some great Flash info, it also has a comprehensive errata list of the typos that have been found in the book itself (which are surprisingly few, given the amount of info involved.) There's nothing more frustrating than spending an hour working your way through a lesson in one of these books, only to end up with a final product that doesn't do what it's supposed to do because you correctly copied a typo from the text. If you're dealing with a book with no or poor on-line support, you could just be left to wonder what went wrong, but having a dependable resource for troubleshooting those kinds of problems is a real plus.If you want to know what's really going on with ActionScript, this is the book for you!

Simplicity and Power

I f you want to be proficient at Flash, it's imperative that you learn Action Script. With several references on the market, how do you choose one that will give you not only confidence to learn how to script , but also will give you a plethora of pertinent examples that most web designers use? Look no further, Flash MX Actionscripting is a top choice! There are three reasons that make this book excellent :1. Simplicity-Flash enables one to achieve the same results in several ways, and part of learning how to script is developing your own style. What I love about this book and Derek's teachings is one can achieve awesome interactive results writing in a straight forward and simplistic way. You'll learn to write expressions using dot syntax that create powerful actions. You'll learn a logical and orderly way of writing that will reduce needless lines of code, avoid possible mistakes or errors, and will give you a foundation that you can build on as you progress through the book.2. Hands-on-taking Macromedia's Training from the Source method to the next step, this book allows you to quickly learn the scripting process (brackets, event handlers) by giving you projects, but it's power is in the explanations: lots of Flash books give you examples and an overview of the code, but seldom do they provide as much in-depth as this book does. You'll start to understand the "why's and how's" that will help you create some masterful projects of your own.3. Writing-this is one of the forte's of this book. Have you ever had to read something redundantly until it made sense? Or after you read it you were more confused and defeated than before? Derek is a true teacher in his writings. Instead of giving you some geek foreign language, he uses every day examples that help you to immediately learn this new "foreign language" and gain confidence with each lesson.Since Flash gives you only a reference guide to Action Script, one must find a more detailed reference to take advantage of this power language-Flash MX Advanced Actionscripting by Derek Franklin and Jobe Makar is the answer!

Excellent book!

This book arrived by post at 06.57 in the morning - by late in the evening, I'd read through all 606 pages of it. I couldn't put it down. It is the most comprehensive book on ActionScripting I've ever seen and very easy to read. Best of all, for my money, is the fact that it fills in gaps which other books seem to leave uncovered. As a very general example, it explains things like 'levels' in a way in which it is very easy to understand, whereas I have other books which go 90% of the way, but which leave some tiny doubt as to the exact ramifications inherent in the usage.The book is thorough in its treatment of every topic upon which it touches - and it touches many of them! It also covers pretty well all the new features of Flash MX: text objects, listeners, improved object orientation etc. and makes topics such as prototyping and how/why it is used, simple enough for anyone to understand. The book assumes no real prior knowledge of ActionScripting, or even programming in any form. What it does assume and quite rightly so, is a reasonable grasp of Flash itself. Had it not done so, it would not have been able to squeeze so much information into its 600-odd pages.In short - this is a great book and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in getting to grips with the more in-depth aspects of Flash MX. Well done, Derek and Jobe!

Flash MX. Advanced...a wise investment.

I've bought several books on Actionscripting, including several from Friends Of Ed. Most of them are confusing and poorly edited, riddled with grammar and spelling errors and have you hand-typing pages and pages of code without proper explanation. However, this isn't the case with FLASH MX ADVANCED by Derek Franklin and Jobe Makar. Each lesson clearly explains what you are doing and why. First they explain in correct English what we want the code to do, then they show us in bright, bold blue font how it translates into Actionscripting. The tutorials included on the CD guide you through each lesson step by step, explaning the code as you go along. There are several very practical applications that you could modify and apply for your own use. This book has some great tricks on loading dynamic mp3's and adjusting the volume on dynamically loaded sounds. It also guides you through several other new features to FlashMX.I was afraid of Actionscripting until I purchased this book. Leafing through the pages, this book held my hand as I experienced the most advanced scripting I have ever done. This book is for you if you are an avid flash user that has been using Flash for 2 years or so but haven't really caught on to all the extra Actionscripting that ships with each new version. I highly recommend this book above all other FlashMX books out there on actionscripting....