Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great for learning AS3
Comment: Contradictory to most "Bibles" this book is not a thorough reference guide, meaning it does not break down every function or object with all of the property and methods. However, the examples are very clear and it's an excellent book to learn what you need and why you want it about Actionscript. I really enjoyed the simple explanations and for each topic I think just the right amount of information is presented without overloading you or leaving wondering what you're missing. Given that there is a wealth of detailed "reference" material at Adobe's site and built into Flex Builder, I think this book is an excellent complement to those materials. I recommend this book to anyone with a little programming experience looking to add ActionScript to their knowledgebase.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Dusty reference book
Comment: In my opinion there are three things to look for in a Computer Language book. Exhaustive reference, truly illustrative examples and applicable conventions and design patterns.
Unfortunately this book failed on all counts, so I rarely open it anymore.
I also have "Essential Actionscript 3" and "Actionscript 3 Cookbook" in my library. I use these a lot more frequently.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A good book on AS3, but not a language reference
Comment: It's surprising that nobody has published a simple language reference for ActionScript 3.0 yet; until that day comes, this book is my most often visited reference when programming Flash projects.
Great job by the authors.
My only complaint: The examples are good, but would be of much more use if they also included classpaths (e.g., the correct "import" statement) within them. As they are, I often find myself searching Adobe's online references for the correct package/class to import before trying them out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a good reference book & the index is lacking.
Comment: The Flash 8 Actionscript bible was an amazing reference, and covered just about every feature. This book is nothing like that. The examples are ok, but the whole way it is written and the index in particular feels kind of rushed. I need a good reference book!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction To ActionScript 3
Comment: I am an experienced programmer who knows Java very well, and I was looking to learn ActionScript 3 so as to be able to build Flash applications. I found this book very easy to read and to understand, and the examples easy to put in practice. Sure, there are a few errors here and there (including in the code, which may confound a truly inexperienced programmer, but also make him think a bit to find the errors... a good exercise), but the overall tone is nice. I took my time, going through about one chapter a day (having other things to do as well), so I finished the book in about a month. Someone dedicated can probably read the whole book and play with all the examples in about a week. I especially liked the fact that the book introduces the reader to almost all Flash APIs: graphics, animation, user interface, XML parsing, file management, networking, image processing, printing, JavaScript interaction, etc. It does not go in depth into most APIs, but by the time you're done reading the book, you have a great overall picture of what you can do with Flash, and you can now explore the APIs in depth by yourself to build more complex projects (using the very comprehensive integrated help that comes with Flash CS3 Professional). You know where to look. I took notes while reading the book every time I learned a new concept, and now I use a highlighter to cross individual notes out as I put the concept in practice into my code and memorize it for good. I hope to have crossed out all my notes in the coming weeks. Anyway, one month after having finished the book, I consider myself quite familiar with ActionScript 3, and I have been writing some good code. So I would say that I am very happy that I purchased this book.
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