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Flash guru Sham Bhangal brings us the third edition of everybody's favorite beginner-level Flash scripting book: Foundation ActionScript. With the release of Flash MX 2004, scripting in Flash has moved from being a desirable asset to an essential skill in the world of web design and development. ActionScript is, quite simply, the key to real power in Flash. Flash is now both a design tool and a development tool, and ActionScript can easily scare designers.
This book is for anyone who has ever looked in awe at a cutting-edge Flash site, then taken a look at some code, and run in the other direction. Learning ActionScript with friends of ED will not turn you into a boring programmer, it will turn you into someone who finally has the power to achieve what they want with their web design, and can liberate their creative urges.
This book will take you from knowing nothing about ActionScript to a firm knowledge that will allow you to exercise a previously unimaginable amount of power over your Flash movies. It does this with fully-worked examples throughout, and a case study that will leave you with a cutting-edge Flash site by the end of the book.
The book is practically oriented, and assumes no previous knowledge of coding, making sure that the you can actually use ActionScript to build a working website via real and detailed examples and case studies.
List of contents
Interactive Flash.- Moving from timelines to code.- Movies that remember.- Movies that decide for themselves.- More power less script.- Movies that remember how to do things.- Objects.- Objects on the stage.- Making plans.- Modular ActionScript.- Sound.- Sprites.- Drawing API.- Working with Flash MX Professional 2004.- Appendix A: ActionScript Reference.
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From the reviews:
"By the end of the book, you should be comfortable with programming in ActionScript, even if you've never touched a line of code in your life, such is the eloquent way this tome is presented." - Practical Web Projects
"Aimed specifically at designers who may not be programming-minded but wish to create powerful online content. ... the guide eases you into the language gently ... . presented in an easy-to-follow manner and take you effortlessly through a range of techniques that are ideal for programming games ... . By the end of the book, you should be comfortable with programming in ActionScript, even if you've never touched a line of code in your life, such is the eloquent way this tome is presented." (Practical Web Projects, May, 2005)
