ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition
Reviewed by Tim Moore
Rated 5 Thugs!!
At over one thousand pages, Colin Moock's guide to the inner sanctum of Flash MX, Action Script for Flash MX, is as complete and coherent a work on coding for Flash as anyone could wish for. It combines a clear introduction to Flash programming, includes a few projects where you can you can apply concepts as you learn them, and then devotes 600+ pages to a comprehensive language reference.
If you wanted one all-embracing reference book by your side while learning Actionscript, this one is it. If you wanted more than one, this one would still be on the top of your stack. Why? Its guide to the classes and objects of Actionscript is the best third party reference on the street.
Like most O'Reilly Books, code is explained with well-strung narrative. Illustrations are provided only when absolutely necessary. (If you like a more visual approach, see O'Reilly's cool new Head First and Head Rush books. I'm a big fan of "Headfirst Design Patterns.")
Since Flash already has a pre-built graphic front end (stages and timelines), ActionScript's main purpose is to make animation scripts interactive, primarily for users on the web. It acts as source code that interprets user events like clicks, drags and rollovers on objects like buttons.
Flash is responsible for the most innnovative and best designed interfaces on the web. The only drawback to using a Flash interface for your website is that Google can't catalog the content. This handicap, most agree, can affect your Google rankings, since Google still uses basic HTML to divine what topical space a website is germane to. Because the source code at a Flash site launches Flash right away, and Flash is a non-HTML protocol, Google's crawlers have no code to classify and catalog a Flash site with. But not to worry. As human-input tagging sites like del.icio.us and Digg catch on, Flash sites will become more visible, despite Google's robot tagging problem.
Action Script for Flash MX is probably the most logically put together narrative on ActionScript extant. As a cover to cover read, part one is a complete education in ActionScript syntax and structure, and a thorough introduction to Object Oriented programming, Flash style. Chapters are strung out in course-like succession. First readers learn how ActionScript interprets variables, datatypes and operators. Then Moock covers conditionals and loops, functions, arrays, objects and classes. He finishes with a thorough discussion of movie clips (nested clips etc) and the authoring environment. At 400 pages, this great introduction would be a great value at the retail price by itself. But Moock is just getting started.
The remaining 600 pages are devoted to a complete Language Reference. This "bible" is the reason Action Script for Flash MX will stay on the top of your stack for the next year. All the supported classes and objects (plus global functions and properties not attached to a class or object) are clearly listed. Each bold entry title ends with the entry's type of item! You can tell instantly whether it's a property, method, function, event handler, etc. This is truly cool - almost as good as a by-type thesaurus of ActionScript. (For those wishing for a by-type listing of ActionScript language, here's a tip. Just navigate the hierarchical menus found by clicking the plus (+) button in Flash's Actions Panel.)
For anyone looking for an authoritative entry to Flash ActionScript, this book is it. Coupled with a good pictorial guide to the Flash front end, and a few online tutorials, Action Script for Flash MX is all you'll need to master Flash and join those creating some of the most advanced interfaces and animations on the web.