Customer Rating: 
Summary: A very good starting point
Comment: This book covers the most important aspects of the ActionScript 3 language, giving a step by step and detailed explanation of programming language and graphics API; easy and clear examples help to figure out how to apply what it explains in each chapter. Good choice if you are starting from zero with ActionScript 3, but also a nice reference for who comes from previous versions of the language.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I do not understand how any programmer could hate this book. It is brilliantly written.
Comment: I am amazed at how thorough and organized this book is, but it is from a programmer's perspective. Some people said that this AS 3.0 book is not as good as his previous AS 2.0 book, but I disagree. Adobe has made major changes to the language, which (unfortunately) coerces ActionScript programmers into using object oriented programming techniques. This makes programming more difficult for designers, and more palatable for many programmers. Please don't blame Colin Moock for Adobe's changes ... he has done a brilliant job explaining the new ActionScript.
Customer Rating:
Summary: In response to bad reviews...
Comment: I think far too many people are used to reading For Dummies or Head Start books and they have forgotten how to learn. The few low scores this book has received are due to a couple of factors: 1. The readers don't have the mental capacity to grasp the concepts. 2. They're trying to read through the book without memorizing keywords and concepts (this lead someone to refer to the nomenclature as technical jargon which it is not). 3. They want to start creating immediately and jump right into applicable content instead of starting off with the basics and building on them.
This is by far the most precise programming book I've ever read. I love his clear and concise style of writing and simple definitions. It is NOT a "For Idiots" style book. Moock Defines keywords in one sentence. It is imperative that you memorize the keywords and concepts before moving on. Work through the code until you understand it. I spent about 50-60 hours in the first 6 chapters.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Seems rushed
Comment: I really like Colin Moock's work, his first book on Actionscripting, taught me how to program in Flash and was a great primer for learning scripting, The book on AS 2 was a bit duller to get through and not quite as informative, but it was still OK. This book however, is an absolute pain to get through, it is disjointed and has you doing tons of stuff with no reasoning behind it, the script samples are crude and don't stand alone like they did in the first two books. I don't recommend this book at all. I am looking for something better that will go back to the basics like the first book did. This one assumes "you know" many things already.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners
Comment: AS3 really came as a shock to me, because I never wanted to become a programmer. I am a designer, and I enjoy working with color and pattern. But, I needed to be able to use Flash CS3, so I reluctantly decided to dive in. I tried the online courses, I went to an expensive classroom with an Adobe certified teacher, and I picked up a couple other books, and all these things helped even though they also caused a lot of frustration. This book just states the rules in the first half, and it's tough to get through, but it's doable, even for a beginner, if you can take a deep breath and relax, and you need to read this stuff, so you have a general knowledge of how the language works. It's like learning a new foreign language. It's boring to read the rules of grammar, but you need to get the hang of it, try it out, see how it sounds, and even if you skim Part 1, it's valuable. Part 2 gets into display techniques, and you need these as well. Part 3 prepares you for entrance into a field of professionals. Don't give in to frustration. Just read the book. It won't be the most pleasant thing you ever did, but it'll be well worth doing. Given what the author was attempting to do, I can't imagine it being done any better.
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