Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: very strong teaching reference
Comment: I think "Learning Actionscript 3.0" by Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser is an excellent resource and I recommend it highly. I am a programmer, and have enjoyed reading it. It is organized well and covers a lot of useful information for Flash designers.
I debated buying it, since there are a lot of references to Actionscript 3.0 on the Internet. However, Schupe and Rosser really do a good job of teaching the new Actionscript, using many examples that readers can download.
The transition from Actionscript 2.0 to 3.0 can be daunting for people. That's why a resource like this one can be appreciated. It starts out with fundamental concepts, then builds on them sequentially.
"Learning Actionscript 3.0" is a very good addition to a programmer's library.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Many Errors -Do Not Reccomend
Comment: I just hate trying to learn from a book that has errors! Is it that hard to get someone to check a book before releasing it? First of all, many of the example files that are available for download are named different than the book says they are. A lot of the code in the exercises doesn't even work! I spent hours unsuccessfully trying to do one of the exercises before I realized the code was incorrect. I had to sort through the misnamed example files and get the correct code, that should have been in the book. O'REILLY is getting worst and worst.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Much Better Than It Looks
Comment: When I first got this, it seemed so digressive I wondered whether I'd get the basics of AS3 under my belt.
Now that I've had it for six months and have collected all the other major books, I find myself going back to this one all the time. Two reasons:
1) It really does cover the waterfront; 90% of the practical use of Flash is explained in this book.
2) There are code examples and explanations you just don't find in the other current books.
For me, the explanation of the Timer class, and how to use it, was invaluable, as was the description of Event Listeners and 'garbage collection' (all in pages 44-48).
And this is the only source I have found, in print or online, that tells you how to turn off or turn down the sound when you've loaded a .swf. If you know the earlier ActionScripts you recall a simple code that said "all sounds off" or something like that. This does not exist in AS3, and it's unbelievably hard to find its replacement. Really--try to search for this online and see if you find it. But it's right there at the bottom of page 229 of this book.
As my own learning has deepened, so has my appreciation of this book's utility. I didn't understand at first why the authors spent so much time laboring over the Display List, which seemed an abstruse area of programming philosophy. But I am beginning to see that their presentation is very practical and really essential to any sort of high-end programming.
There's a good dedicated website, too, with lessons and experiments that support and take you beyond the book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Gateway Drug
Comment: This is, quite simply, one of the best books I have ever read concerning the topic of Actionscript. As an Adobe Instructor in the discipline of Flash, I often find myself looking for books as suggestive reading for new learners. This book has now become my #1 choice for professionals looking to quickly learn Actionscript 3 from the ground up.
For years Colin Moock has set the standard for Actionscript learning with his Essential Guides to Actionscript. The wonderful thing about Learning Actionscript 3.0 is that it is openly and largely based on Colin Moock's titles. The benefit to choosing Learning Actionscript 3 is that Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser realized the advanced technical nature of Colin Moock's titles. They also realized how potentially difficult this may be for professionals with no prior experience. It was through this realization that they delivered a book that was as thorough in coverage as Moock's but as easy to read as Harry Potter!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book for ActionScript 3 Newbies!
Comment: I pre-ordered this book before it was even out in the bookstores about 7 months ago. I was an intermediate ActionScript 2 developer before making the jump to ActionScript 3. What a difference in the language, but most importantly the book makes light of all of that in way thats very easy to understand. Its the perfect book for a beginner, it teaches you a lot of procedural programming but also wraps everything you do nicely into Object Oriented Programming. Its not overwhelming by any means, I have already recommended this book to all of my friends! There is also a great companion website for the book and the authors tend to reply to comments that you make on the site. Ive read the book straight through 3 times already, its by far my favorite book for Flash. And it's really unlike other beginner books, its on an island of its own. This is how all newbie books should be written!
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