[.ca] Object-Oriented Macromedia Flash MX (ISBN 1590590147)

Learning where to start...:
I was in an ActionScript training class when the instructor mentioned object-oriented programming. He spent as much time explaining it as it takes to read this sentence. Somehow I know it was "the big picture" for success with ActionScript. As an ActionScript novice, it was important to me to learn the basics besides the "stop();" command. When you need to immerse yourself in a programming language, it is equally important to be shown the elements of building in that language as 3-dimensionally as possible. That's what William Drol does with this book. While he makes no assumptions about the user's skill level, he does assume that the programmer want to learn "the value of good planning and good coding". That's what I've learned from using this book. As a multimedia developer, planning is paramount. I believe this book will show you a way of thinking to help ease the planning process and make the discipline of coding easier. I look forward to working on future projects now in Flash MX, with the confidence of having Mr. Drol's book as a solid foundation and reference to guide me.

excellent work, Mr. Droll.:
As a newcomer to Flash -- with some animation experience, and a tiny bit of scripting -- and a total novice at programming, I walked away from this book with a wonderful sense of confidence that I could learn how to achieve all of my goals for rich internet application development. I can't speak for anyone else, but I can say with absolute certainty that this book was the best decision I made in my internet education involving Flash. At the time of this writing, I'm already moving on to Flash MX 2004, because I started using Flash MX pretty late in the game... due to my loyalty to the now defunct Adobe LiveMotion. Since my understanding of graphics and animation was okay, this book took me to the next level, really allowing me to take advantage of the power of organized object-oriented programming in Flash. It taught me how to plan and organize my code, and which allowed me to reach goals I had never before believed I could achieve. I knew others were doing these things (probably with ease), but I didn't really think I could do it myself. This book changed my mind. Previously, I had been extremely limited, and was using very backward ways of accomplishing simple tasks. Now, I not only know how to program a bit, but I can actually understand all the tutorials I encounter online. Not only that, but this allowed me to get a handle on other similar languages, such as PHP, and C#. The author was extremely helpful and friendly, and offered tons of advice via email. He helped me figure out what type of server technologies were best, and now I'm not only using Flash 2004, but also C# and ASP.NET. I can't imagine where I would have been without his help, and without having read his book. Although I haven't had the luxury to read a ton of programming books yet, so far Mr. Droll is the very best technical writer I have encountered. He makes everything so simple, and he doesn't take any shortcuts. His code is clean, easy to comprehend, and very well explained (unlike some other books I bought which made it very difficult for me to understand the included code). This book is not perfect, but it's the best Flash MX programming book for novices I have ever read. Writing this review, and recommending Mr. Droll to everyone who might haoppen to read it, is the very least I could do to say thank you for writing such an excellent book, and for providing SUPERIOR personal assistance via email... and not even strictly regarding topics from his books... but about ALL programming topics. I have never encountered such a friendly, helpful author, and I am DEFINITELY going to buy his next book (even though he said he didn't write most of it, because he didn't have time). The book is called Object-Oriented Macromedia Flash MX 2004, which is the next version of this book. I'll be looking for further books from this author (if he ever decides to keep writing), and I highly recommend him to others as well. You can view his site at www.billdroll.com. All the best to you, Bill, and thanks again. Daniel

Wonderful OOP for self-taught, advanced actionscripters:
I have always been programming ActionScript as a web designer... i bought several books and i went on designing very complex applications, such as news caster editors, or other things... What io was missing was a plot... an overall image to start building flash projects in a more efficient and coherent way... This book helped me so much, and broadened my vision of the whole OOP ActionScript... It is for advanced scripters, but beginners too can learn a lot from this book... There is another OOP ActionScript book from Brnaden Hall et al which is very good, but that is really for advanced programmers. Start by this good Bill Droll book... And one more *GREAT* thing... i had some problems with some code in the book (that was due to my typing error). I emailed the euthor himself who has been very helpful and friendly... I really advice this book if you want to start the topic of OOP in ActionScript.

Great text for non programmers:
I always commend the efforts of strong programmers who write books tailored for those of us who are not.As designers we generally absorb and learn information in a totally different manner than programmers and this book addresses that fact well. Most programming books are incomplete because they leave out steps in thier explanations assuming that it's obvious to the reader at some point or another and Mr. Drols' book covers 98% of everything you need to know to understand the foundations of ActionScript and how it works. I am glad I bought it and recommend new users to read it and follow the tutorials thoroughly twice or more to get the most out of it. You will be able to write clean, reusable functions and code for your projects that you thought were impossible.

Great Concept Book, But Don't Expect to Build Anything Usefu:
Not formally trained as an OO programmer, it's something I've come in to over the years. Building applications in Flash MX (particularly if you are working with Flash Remoting or the Flash Communication Server) really requires an understanding of OO principles and practices. I've read a couple of books on the subject, and none have been as clear about building objects and classes in Flash as this one. It's clear, concise, and an easy read. It makes understanding how to make objects and classes in Flash MX a breeze. That said, the book doesn't really build anything useful. The menu system that is implemented is solid, if uninspiring. Covering small, OO applications that did more than simulate gravity and display very simple XML files would have made this book great.