Product Description

To fully take advantage of Flash CS3, it's necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of ActionScript 3.0. From manipulating movie clips and responding to user actions with variables to writing functions and conditional operators, ActionScript 3.0 in Flash CS3 Professional Essential Training covers the vital skills necessary to master ActionScript 3.0. Instructor Todd Perkins uses numerous hands-on examples - including two game-building exercises - to explore ActionScript's powerful features. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.

Topics Include:

• Communicating with MovieClips, variables, and people
• Using and writing functions
• Responding to events
• Understanding conditional statements
• Using text and arrays
• Creating a memory game
• Using advanced graphics and animation tools
• Loading external images and Flash movies
• Creating a drag-and-drop game

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1515977 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-08
• Binding: CD-ROM

From the Publisher
Each lynda.com CD/DVD course offers hours of training movies that you watch on your computer. The movies are recorded in pixel-perfect quality, and include the authors' narration and movements as they teach the subject matter. Courses include the same project files that the instructors use, so you can follow along at your own pace. lynda.com tutorials are great for visual learners and people who like to learn by doing. Topics include software applications, workflow optimization, tips and techniques, and much more. Play, fast-forward, and rewind for easy learning.

About the Author
Todd Perkins is an Adobe Certified Instructor who spends much of his time teaching people how to use Adobe's web development software. Todd has several years of experience teaching people of all ages and backgrounds, and he is an expert at teaching complex concepts in a way anyone can understand. Todd is half of the dynamic duo at the All Things Adobe Podcast (chadandtoddcast.com), and he has authored a vast array of video training titles. Todd also loves to teach in classrooms, consult businesses, and train people online, but what he loves most is playing video games with his amazing wife, Jessica.

Customer Reviews

Not good, unfortunately
I bought some actionscript books, but I got this CD because I thought it would be an easy intro. But I kept having to refer to my books to figure out what was happening on the CD. Here are some examples:

The author names things in a confusing way. Sometimes he'll name an event "event" and it's hard to know whether this is just his name for this particular event, or whether you have to use the term "event" in all such cases. (If that was confusing to read, then you understand how I felt watching the CD). In other words, it's not always clear whether he's naming something on the fly with whatever name he wants, or is instead invoking a required term.

He often types code before explaining what he wants to do with it, which leads to things like, "Type this function on line 16, now go up and enter this variable on line 4, now go down to line 18 and type..." And you're just sitting there watching but not understanding what he's doing because he's not going to tell you the point of all these lines until he's finished typing them.

In general the author needs to work harder at presenting the big picture, zeroing in the details, and relating them back to the big picture. Too often, this training leaves you unclear on how to take the code he's demonstrating and apply to other situations.

Pass on this one
Todd Perkins takes great pains to tell you every step you need to do in order to cut and paste, every time he does it, right up to the last lesson, and every step in order to set up your curly braces, every time he uses them, right up to the last lesson, and every time you need capitalization he will tell you, every time, right up to the last lesson, but he won't tell you why you need the classes you're creating, or why you place certain code where it is, or any of dozens of other important items and concepts you bought this expensive item in order to learn. You follow along while he says mind numbing things like "space = space, hit enter, hit the tab key, then write function, space, now select all this area down to the closing curly brace and copy using the C on your keyboard and then paste using," etc. as if you bought this to learn over and over how to cut and paste.

Actionscript 3.0 Essentials for Alzheimer Patients
I full concur with the two negative reviews. Mind-numbingly patronizing, Todd has no idea how to explain the bigger picture, or convey succinct, efficient information for those of us with a brain cell count beyond 5 digits. I think [...] hired him because he has a friendly, kindergarten teacher-esque way of speaking. Grating.

Hey guys did you know that, if you'd like to follow along with this lesson, that you will be able to find the exercise files in the directory that corresponds to this chapter, which is in the directory of "Actionscript 3.0 Essentials?" Didja? Didja didja didja?!

Oh, you want me to explain this stuff that I'm doing? Meh, I'll just remind you about these curly braces instead. 'Gonna hit enter twice, and then, get this, I'm going to press the up arrow. Are you paying attention, kids?! Up arrow makes cursor go up!

Read a book instead.