|
|
Author: Sham
Bhangal
494 Pages |
 |
 |
| I learned a lot from this book, and it's not
just because it contains a lot of different Actionscripting techniques. Rather, it's a
book that not only starts with the basics of Actionscripting, but teaches the fundamentals
of programming itself from the ground up. It will help you break down any complex
programming problem into its most basic building blocks, and will enable you to write
scripts without having to stress over them. Despite
the detailed introduction to the world of programming, Foundation Actionscript
manages to move quite quickly. Don't be afraid of the size of this book; though it's
nearly 500 pages, it isn't packed with an intense "CODE CODE CODE!!!" mentality.
Peppered throughout the book (between scripting lessons) are numerous tricks, tips,
techniques, and expert tidbits that will not only help you become an expert
Actionscripter, but also an effective planner who'll be invincible to the hordes of
clients that may seek out to thwart your ideas.
Many Flashers I've helped in the last few years have
expressed confusion as to how some objects (graphic, movie clip) can have their own
timelines. This book explains that topic with precision and perfection. It encourages the
use of "modular design" during a site's creation to decrease its file size and
loading time. It explains the different variable types and their various uses with much
more clarity than the other scripting books. Its detailed examples will help you
understand Flash's decision-making process. It contains the best explanation of Arrays
I've seen yet. It'll help you make a cool drag-and-drop application and show you
everything there is to know about controlling sounds with Actionscript. It'll show you how
to create realistic animation purely through scripting-- in fact, there's an entire
80-page chapter dedicated to "sprites," movie clips that are able to govern
themselves and how they behave. Furthermore, it encourages you to take a notepad with you
on a regular basis and look to ordinary things for design inspiration.
|
 |
| While I was reading Foundation Actionscript,
I couldn't help but notice that it was littered with spelling and grammatical errors.
They're small but annoying, and shouldn't have gotten past the team of editors who worked
on this book. Like its predecessor Foundation Flash 5, this book is packed with interesting
and useful information. At one point, though, it veers sharply off the Actionscript course
and almost becomes a second Hillman Curtis book;
while the information is insightful, it's not entirely pertinent and makes the book
disjointed. Impatient readers may become aggravated by this lack of flow.
Though the explanations contained between its covers make the
majority of topics easier to understand than other books do, this book's explanation of
Flash 5's "dot syntax" is long-winded and harder to understand than the
explanations found in Flash 5! Creative Web Animation, Flash 5 Advanced, and its own sibling Foundation Flash 5. I was also hoping to learn more
about the Smart Clip in this book; however, the tiny section on this topic is, to put it
bluntly, completely useless. Finally, Foundation Actionscript will show you how
to make a site that looks cool, but is also buggy
and in no way intuitive.
|
 |
 |
| Level of skill this book appeals to: 
Level of recommendation, based on other books reviewed:
I can't recommend another book more strongly, folks: Foundation Actionscript is a
book that doesn't just show you "how to do this" and "how to do that."
It's a book that'll give you true insight into the world of scripting, and will make you a
true and fully-fledged programmer. If you've already got Actionscript under your belt,
you'll benefit by reading the expert tips this book contains. If you're looking to make
games in Flash, the last chapter alone will be worth more than its weight in gold.
|
|
