CS3 Book

[crimsonsmeagol]

Can anyone recommend a good book for learning Advanced Flash stuff with CS3, especially ActionScript3?
I have had a few Java programming classes and am fairly familiar with Flash 8 and ActionScript2 but I am looking for something fairly advanced that would allow me to expand my skills, learn AS3, and cover more then just the basic programming concepts and more then just simple motion/shape tweens.

[Medyman]

For ActionScript 3, these are a must (especially the first one):

ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook : Solutions and Examples for Flash Developers
ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques

[crimsonsmeagol]

Thank you, they both look like great books for what I am wanting. I greatly appreciate the recommendation.

[evan]

This would be maybe a standard guide as to what general rules apply to the sytax as with something like:

simple button navigation with playhead in AS 3.0:

function eventResponse1(evt:MouseEvent):void {
gotoAndStop("one");}
btn_one.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP,eventResponse1);

Is

home_btn.onRelease = function(){gotoAndStop("end");}

in AS 2.0

(I understand this code now that I played with it -I just finished a project where I would have liked to apply conditionals to some of my buttons as an afterthought -but because I don't know how -I kept all my buttons on the timline and hid or moved them off the stage when I didn't want them. I realized that once a button instance is off the timeline and reinserted, the code in frame 1 won't deal with it when you put it back.)

more importantly, when making the jump from using behaviors to using functions to call instances of symbols and movies

are are there laymen's examples to bridge that gap in print or online?

I ask because I'm new to alot of this and am looking for an efficient way to swallow alot in a very short amount of time. Maybe there is no fast way aside from parctice and greater undersatnding of OOP.

[Medyman]

Hi Evan,

I'm sorry, could you rephrase your question. I don't quite ask what you're asking.

Your point at the end is correct though. And that's not just for Flash and AS3. It's for everything. There's not magic pill that'll give you all the skills you need. You learn as you go. The one thing that I love and hate about AS3 and Flash CS3 is that it's really geared toward OOP. As I go along, my projects get more and more complicated, it seems. So almost all of my projects these days are using OOP. But the simpler things (like buttons as you mention) have become a tad more complicated.

[evan]

I meant that for some basic stuff like new function syntax -was there a good guide for that.

The second point was that as I was bold enough to try my new project out in AS 3.0 there really wasn't a need to to it if it was just simple buttons and playhead navigation, but what was good is I realized what I don't know and what I need to know.

Such as in AS 2.0 you can assign behaviors to button instances and place them on the timeline intermittently.

In AS 3.0 You can't. as soon as I took my instance off the time line and put in in later -it stopped working -so I had a choice -assign a new instance name with a function (I think) or keep all the buttons on the timeline and move them off the stage when they are not in use. I think a real coder would have assigned conditional statements to take care of that but -I don't know how yet)

As for the magic pill I figured that if the structure and organization and over zen is different it's not so simple as "translating" -but maybe some simpler things could be as I showed with the buttons.

[Medyman]

I was browsing some Flash blogs a few weeks ago and came across this post by Lee Brimelow. He makes a gleaming recommendation of Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide.

Yesterday, I was in the local bookstore and happened to see the book on the shelves. So, I skimmed through it and I have to say that, at first glance, I wholeheartedly agree with Lee's assessment. I bought the book for my business partner because he's still stuck in the AS2 world . Especially since he's getting into AIR development, I thought it would be helpful.

I also do own Colin Moock's AS3 Cookbook, but use it as more of a reference than a learning tool.

[crimsonsmeagol]

Thank you for the recommendation. Since you have glanced through the book can you tell me if it has any advanced exercises or examples?
My main purpose for looking for an advanced book right now is that I will be doing an Independent Study next semester on what is supposed to be ADVANCED Flash, specifically AS3. I plan on going through and learning AS3 this summer and will definitely be looking into these books to transition me from AS2 (which I haven't used much of lately and am sorta stuck on Java at the moment) to AS3.
However, I would love to find a book that can give me examples and exercises that are challenging as well as allow me to apply the knowledge I learn to do more advanced projects using mostly AS3. Thanks for the help and advice.

[Medyman]

Well, I wouldn't call any of the examples advanced by my definition. It does get into some pretty "advanced" techniques towards the end though.

I've looked through it pretty thoroughly and it can serve as a very good reference. The Moock book is also a very good reference but very dry to learn from. I would suggest getting this book to learn/transition between AS2 and AS3.

It also depends on what your goals are with Flash. Do you want to do more design, UI based interactive flash projects (i.e. websites, etc...) or do you want to getting into more RIA stuff. If you're able to do the latter in AS2, than the Moock book should be more than enough. You'll pick it up quickly.

But if your Flash is just going to be limited to things like websites, slideshows, video players, than my last recommendation should be a great resource. This is not to say that it's not advanced. These things can be very advanced, just not apploications I would classify as RIA.

Hope that helps