Object-Oriented Programming with ActionScript [With CDROM]

by Samuel Wan and Branden Hall

A guide to the changes to Flash MX from the professionals who helped to build it. The text is aimed at advanced users who need to re-conceptualize how to work with Flash MX to intelligently build... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735711836
• ISBN13: 9780735711839
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: New Riders Publishing
• Length: 425 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Fantastic book for OOP concepts in ActionScript.

I've worked with Flash for many years. I've also been programming in Pascal, C, C++ for many years. This book helped me for the first time tie the OOP concept to Flash movie clips, frames, sound objects, and timelines.I didn't need a book with pages of code examples. I just needed to have a good explaination and short examples of how the components work or how to manipulate the XML object.In a way, this book serves as a refresh course for people who are familiar with tools such as Visual Basic and have always thought Flash is just for animations.This book is for Flash 6, the concept is still the same with Flash 7 and ActionScript 2.0

a fine advanced book for experienced flash programmers

If you are a typical Flash developer, you first encountered Flash as a design environment, and then you began learning Actionscript, the scripting language for Flash. You can find a lot of books teaching Actionscript on the shelves, but most do not go very deep. What is given to you, usually, is a how-to-code course for a language which is very similar to Javascript, and how to use it in the Flash environment. However, Actionscript can be a much more sophisticated beast in the rights hands, especially in its last "MX" incarnation. And here comes "Object-Oriented Programming with ActionScript". This fine book is divided in three parts. The first is about Object-Oriented Programming in ActionScript: after a crash course in OOP, the ActionScript implementation of OOP is presented (and if you already had contact with OOP in your life, with Java for example, you could be surprised about some interesting features). A full example of game design with OOP Actionscript is then shown. The second part of the book is about Components, which is a new feature of Flash MX, and which is very important if you don't want to reinvent the wheel every time you have to program something. The final part of the book contains a collection of mixed and useful topics: debugging techniques, server integration, text fields wizardry, data structures, and more. Warning: this is a book for experienced programmers. You are supposed to know ActionScript pretty well in order to understand it (if you don't, New Riders also has some nice entry-level books about ActionScript). But if your ActionScript experience is good, you can't miss this one. The information provided here is available nowhere else. Recommended.

A valuable toolbox for advanced ActionScripters

I've been coding hardcore ActionScript for a couple years now, and doing OOP in Java and other languages for much longer than that. I still learned a LOT from this book. The authors spell out many things that you otherwise have to learn on your own, through exhaustive trial and error. This book, along with Colin Moock's, is among the few that truly delve into Advanced Topics. (Some other books call themselves Advanced but often just briefly describe the Advanced features without giving real-life examples). The authors do a great job explaining the application of OOP techniqes in ActionScript. A warning to novices though: you'll get a lot more out of this book if you already have some knowledge of OOP! They cover many other topics in depth, with actual code samples, including: * Design Patterns for Flash, including a Model-View-Presenter sample* Events, Callbacks and Listeners, and how to define your own Custom Events* Data-Aware Components using the DataProviderClass* Anti-Distortion in FUI-style Components* Building your own Components, including Live Preview* "Textfield Mangling" and HTML text fields* Remote Debugging* Flash RemotingThere's a lot more too. It's hard to get accurate information about any of these topics anywhere else--even on the Macromedia website--so a book that collects them all in one place is a godsend.The writing style is lively and to-the-point, and the book design is clean, readable, and attractive. I highly recommend this book for all advanced ActionScript programmers who want to refine their craft.

The "Other" Must-Have Actionscript book

The best part of Flash MX is the almost absolute control you have over Flash via ActionScript. People can get by without tapping into this rich functionality and still do well with the new non-ActionScript features but most Flash developers want more.Though I'm not a Flash historian, I believe Branden and Sam were critical in the strong hack-together OOP movement at the end of Flash 5's life and genesis of Flash MX's birth. This is the kind of insider perspective that, if you are interested in taking advantage of ActionScript MX-style, will prove very handy in your development.Branden and Sam have written this book with a kind of geek wonder and gee-whiz discovery that speaks to my programmer heart. They do a great job so describing hard-won ActionScript-specific coding practices and techniques along side actual code samples.I have been programming professionally for a while but the looseness of Actionscript is enough to drive me insane (i.e. AS's unwillingness to throw errors on undefined functions or variables combined with my horrible spelling skills). The author's tricks like the _resolve function on page 68 which can catch undefined function calls, as they as called, are a GODSEND!The book covers setting up a good Flash MX development layout, having data-aware components, XML, creating Heap structures, debugging techniques and building components from scratch with an Actionscript bent. It also has two great guest chapter writers: Andreas Hiem (Server Integration) and Nigel Pegg (Components).I'm definitely gushing here but there is no fluff or wasted space here. I think they did a great job of sharing their knowledge and I hope, when they collect enough new material, they will write another book....

Excellence All Around!

When I got this book delivered to me, I had already seen a few chapters previous to the book going to print. I already knew how important and how well-written this book was going to be. Being able to read through the whole thing, all I can say is this book is a MUST HAVE. This book is on par with Collin Moock's now famous book. In fact in some ways, this book is actually better!Flash MX has brought a lot more capabilities to the table - but implementing them isn't always very easy. This book explains OOP in a way everyone can understand, then presents real-world situations where you'd benefit from this development approach. Components are covered in depth, and even Nigel Pegg from Macromedia chimes in with some of his own chapters. The book covers OOP principles, how to conduct OOP in Flash, covers component creation, working with components that already exist, implementing live previews with components, debugging guidance, using ASFunction with text fields, passing variables to from, data structures, and they even close the book out with some useful bits of AS code you might be able to reference for your own projects. This is an amazing resource, artfully and precisely written, by some of the most talented coders on the planet. I highly reccommend this title.