Adobe’s ActionScript 3 has many things in common with regular compiled languages, with a specialized focus on the Flash player and engine. Here’s a good desk reference to avoid drowning in the online help that often times is a hindrance for here and now how to use it information.

One of Einstein’s famous quotes is about not bothering to remember what can be looked up. There may not have been as much information that could be easily looked up in those days, while today we’re inundated with it at every turn. This is particularly true for Adobe’s ActionScript 3, the latest outgrowth of the Flash engine’s programming tool. There’s so much there, both from the precursor versions and the new, really object oriented restructuring that keeping track of it all may well be impossible.

This is particularly so for someone just starting to use ActionScript, with trying to get usage information from the online help is like attempting to get a drink of water from a fire hydrant. Plus, in today’s heterogeneous software environments, mind share has to compete with other programming and scripting approaches and architectures, most having little connection with the others.

This book’s first chapter is also the largest one, and deals with ActionScript 3’s basics. It is followed by the second largest chapter, which deals with the object structure of this latest version of the language. With these first two chapters provide the basis for the remaining chapters and sections, each illuminated with code snippets that illuminate a usage or concept in concrete terms. Well written and a surprisingly easy read for such a technical subject, it provides more immediate how to information than can typically be found in online help, which itself is seldom noted for clarity of thought or ease of expression.

The book’s 687 pages are organized into 37 chapters, grouped into in ten functional sections. With a rich index and code samples on the Wiley web site.

Highly recommended for anyone new to ActionScript, and a good aide memoire to seasoned professionals.

ActionScript 3.0 Bible, by Roger Braunstein, Mims Wright, Joshua Noble, published by Wiley, ISBN 9780470135600, available at Amazon.

© Copyright 2010 Chuck Brooks for FutureWare SCG

Tags: actionscript, as3, Flash, flex

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