5 comments about ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook: Solutions for Flash Platform and Flex Application Developers.

1. Here's an example of why this book deserves just one star (if that!):
   
   Cre{2}l matches creel but not crel or creel
   
   This example was taken from the section on regular expressions. There are other inaccuracies on that page. Overall, this book is riddled with inadequate, poor explanations that appear to typify the worse of IT personnel - bad communications skills. Anyone who gives this book high marks has not read the book entirely and is relying only on reputation.
   
   
   Here's another example:
   var example:RegExp = /(\d)abc(\d*)/;
   
   var result:Array = example.exec( "7abc" );
   
   // Displays: 3
   trace( result.length );
   // Displays: 7abc
   trace( result[0] );
   // Displays: 7
   trace( result[1] );
   // Displays:
   trace( result[2] );
   
   Notice that the last display is missing. Really sloppy work. Not convinced? Try it at your own peril.
   Skip this book.



2. I bought this book because I wanted to learn how to use AS3 over AS2. This book claims to be a ActionScript 3.0 which it is, but ONLY if you have the Flex Application.
   
   I don't have Adobe Flex but I would like to learn ActionScript 3.0 - this is too advanced for me and the applications aren't what I thought they would be.
   
   This book may be good for advanced users of ActionScript but for someone like me who was just getting used to ActionScript 2.0 and wants to learn how AS3 works- it's the worst book you can buy.
   
   As much as I like O'Reilly books, I feel this book is misleading.
   
   Novice to Advanced users may think otherwise.



3. Excellent format: Q&A. Helps you find the syntax that you need and the solution for the most common problems you encounter programming AS3.
   
   Anyway it's not supposed to be complete and covering everything. I would recommend to a beginner/intermediate, specially to a previous AS2.0 developer like me. Cheers.



4. This book is a is a supplement to other ActionScript books, and a big help to people who can do some things in Flex or Flash, and can maybe even write some ActionScript, but are not yet self-sufficient gurus. The ideas and information can be found in other sources, but it's compiled here in a way that's surprisingly handy. For example, there is a chapter on programmatic animation. It's a good start, but for more detail, you really want Foundation Actionscript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move!. Someone else already posted the table of contents, so no need to repeat it.
   
   The book is a collection of code snippets with explanation text. The authors assume that readers are building projects and want to add some features or capabilities. The code snippets demonstrate how to implement these. It's not exactly a beginner book, but it begins with ground-level concepts such as where to put ActionScript in a project, how to use mathematical operators, and how to trace messages. More complex topics follow.
   
   I like the way information is presented. It provides a nice counterpoint to other ActionScript books I've been reading, with a "You want to do this. Here's a way to do it" approach. I think this will be an excellent reference and I will use it a lot over the next several months. I can't give it five stars because the web support for the book is lame compared to what I've seen for other texts. I understand authors are busy, but I think the online component is important for these ActionScript books. If you are an absolute beginner with ActionScript, I also recommend Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide. Thanks for reading.



5. For those of us who have experience in many programming languages (C, C++, C#, JAVA etc.) who were introduced to flash and to actionscript (2.0/3.0) - I HIGHLY recommend this book as your first choice! - it'll get you up to speed in a matter of a week or two!
   I highly recommend taking some time aside and read it thoroughly. This is the best cookbook I've ever read. Very clear, well organized, easy to understand - you name it! In fact, I don't know whether to consider it as a cookbook - as it is by all means an excellent learning textbook as well!!!
   If you wanna be an actionscript 3.0 stud - start with this book.

5 comments about Visualizing Data.

1. This book allowed me to quickly create some simple applications using the processing API. So, in that respect, the book was successful. However, the book falls short in three respects.
   
   1) One would expect a book with the title "Visualizing Data" to be crammed with pictures showing many different data visualizations. However, this book has relatively few. Every colleague of mine who passed by my desk and picked up the book had the exact same reaction.
   
   2) The processing language is touted as a means for people unfamiliar with programming to get up to speed with visualization. However, I would be very surprised if anyone with little programming experience would get much out of this book.
   
   3) Don't expect to use this book as a reference for the processing language. It is basically just a collection of half explained examples. Consider for example the function smooth(). This function appears in almost every example but forget about trying to find an explanation of what the function does in the book.
   
   The book is probably worth buying to get up to speed quickly but plan on spending a significant amount of time sifting through the processing.org website and other online resources before being able to get anything non-trivial done. And if you don't already know Java then don't expect to accomplish anything even modestly complex without a lot of outside help.



2. Processing looks like a very powerful tool and this book serves as a good introduction to both programming and computer visuals. It's nicely paced but if you are a professional software engineer looking to harness processing you will find yourself skimming the whole book in search for advanced material.
   
   In particular the use of java for a whole lot of tasks including text parsing and data mining leads to very tedious and verbose code where a few lines of perl or awk would have done the job.
   
   Overall this is a good book if you are somewhat new to programming. Else this will make for too short a read.



3. Based on the title and publisher's writeup I was expecting the book to provide in-depth coverage of various visual metaphors for understanding and manipulating data, such as "Designing Interfaces" by Tidwell, another O'Reilly book that I am very pleased with.
   
   Unfortunately it would be more appropriate if the title (Visualizing Dta) and sub-title (Exploring and Explaining Data with the Processing Environment) were switched. This book is primarily a tutorial on using the Processing Environment (http://processing.org), showing you how to create various interactive charts and composed primarily of code examples.
   
   In addition, the visualizations presented in the book are far from aesthetically pleasing. The Processing Environment has the capability to create visualizations that are not only functional, but beautiful as well. You can find a collection of visualizations at http://www.visualcomplexity.com, many of which were created with the Processing Environment.
   
   In summary I am granting a 2-star rating because the book does not deliver the expected coverage of data visualization design and even in its explanation of the Processing Environment does not provide exemplary visualizations.



4. Ben Fry hits the mark!
   
   The author jumps right into describing the process in Chapter 1, "The Seven Stages of Visualizing Data."
   He elaborates each of the stages with illustrations and examples.
   
   In chapter 2, "Getting Started with Processing," Ben introduces a software tool (named Processing) that's available for download: www.processing.org/download.
   
   From the site: "Processing is an open project initiated by Ben Fry and Casey Reas. It evolved from ideas explored in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab."
   
   And the remainder of the title details the various stages of visualizing data with sample code you can use to develop your own visualizations!



5. 'Visualizing Data' is a book that is supposed to discuss how data is presented, sorted, stored and examined. Instead what we get is a 350+ page book that is jumbled with lots of code samples (why) and a small subset of data that is actually visualized. This is a really niche topic that I thought would be interesting to examine as I opened the book cover but thumbing through I saw few pictures (although there are a few in here that are good) and lots of java code. While it's interesting to see how data is outputted code-wise, from the book title I felt this would be more of a design discussion for the reader.
   
   I can't recommend this book. There is too much code, too much content, and the code that is contained within is all Java. I didn't get much out of it and I feel that if less code and more pictures were added the end result would have been much more solid.
   
   ** NOT RECOMMENDED

5 comments about Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands.

1. Zagging is not a new concept. If you like business and performance management readings, probably you are familiar with it already, especially if you've read books by authors like Jim Collins (hedgehog concept), Chan Kim (blue ocean) or Seth Godin (purple cow).
   
   This book provides a unique approach from a marketer's point of view to the concept of real differentiation in the marketplace. "When everybody zigs, zag". Stop being a follower, an imitator, and start being different, start zagging.
   
   You can't stop reading this book, once you get started. It will take you one or two hours, which doesn't mean the author is not providing details and deep insights. In fact, he gives what it takes to make his points clear, captivating, and consistent.
   
   David Aaker says in the back cover of this book: "The presentation alone is worth the price of the book". He is absolutely right. This book zags.



2. Knocked this one out in a single flight. Well written, easy to follow. Maybe a little too easy. Would have liked a little more meat. Consider this the Cliff's Notes to Differentiate or Die. Both great books, this is easier to digest. Neumeier is a brand genius, he gets it and he can present it well in a concise format.



3. I purchased this book at the same time as the Brand Gap, being confident in the fact they'd both be helpful, well-written, yet densely packed tomes of information - and I was right!
   
   Zag hones in on one element discussed in the Brand Gap - differentiation - and expands it into a 200-so page book. According to Neumeier, differentiation, or creating zag, is one of the most important elements of branding - and it needs to happen at every step of the way, from conception to naming to marketing.
   
   The great thing about Zag is the way it presents the information - much like in the Brand Gap it follows a 'whiteboard', graphic-heavy, basic (but important) facts. This time around however, it pairs the basic format with a strong, easy-to-follow example through the faux development of an educational wine bar chain.
   
   Neumeier then takes the reader through 17 steps (including some helpful exercises) you should take as a business owner, venture capitalist, or advertising professional when determining whether your product is zagworthy - or how to make it so it is.
   
   In terms of why I gave the book 4 stars as opposed to 5...The last section of the book - once the 17 steps are completed and the wine bar is 'fully developed' - is a little bit dense/doesn't seem to flow as well as the rest of the book/series.
   
   Also there is a decent amount of repetition between Zag and the Brand Gap, and I am hesitant in believing that people would pick up one without the other. Although it makes sense to reinforce the principles (and sell more books I'm sure) in some cases, it almost made it hard to differentiate some of the messages between the books, making me feel a bit cheated in that I paid money to read the same pages over.
   
   I have a hunch Neumeier might take the 5 main principles found in The Brand gap and expand each of them into books like Zag did for differentiation - and I can't fault him for doing so. Zag is definitely an improvement on The Brand Gap in that it offers a focused "here's exactly what you can do" strategy, but it still remains general enough that virtually any level of professional (student, beginner, executive etc.) can sit down and walk away a couple of hours later feeling like they learned something.



4. Excellent Book!
   It is:
   - Fun to read
   - Openminding
   It provides great practical ideas. You can apply the 17 steps to differentiation in your work place righ away.
   I could not stop reading it.



5. You have to read Zag like you read the bible- it tells a great story but you often are better served not delving too deeply into the statements made by the author to support his points (i.e. the fact that 11 million people went to Europe in 2006 versus 8 million in 1964 as evidence of a shift in American society- though as a percent of the population it is almost no change at all in Americans traveling abroad).
   
   Such is the nature of writing about a topic where 1) the author makes his money selling branding services; 2) he doesn't believe in hard numbers to prove points, harboring the predictable anti-research position that is both a great strength and weakness of this book and books like this (i.e. Blink). It also may be the most acceptable way to write a book that is not so dry and academic that nobody would want to read it.
   
   But the story being told is a great one and it is really well told. Neumeier needs to get a lot of credit for presenting ideas simply (not simplistically) which many other authors would make very complicated. The book is also just really well thought out so that it is thoroughly enjoyable to read even as you get into some pretty important topics that others might get bogged down in jargon or overly long explanations. The book also gets high markst for not only discussing what a "zag" is but also showing you how you can get there if you follow his clearly outlined process.
   
   So while the book is clearly a campaign for what he believes versus an objective look at branding, it is great read and I would recommend it for anyone working in marketing/branding that wants a refresher or reminder about what you should be thinking about in our ever-changing world.

5 comments about How to Cheat in Flash CS3: The art of design and animation in Adobe Flash CS3.

1. Hello, I bought the book How to Cheat in Flash CS3: The art of design and animation in Adobe Flash CS3, and I mean the whole ones that is the best book on the Flash that I already had opportunity to read. The examples, the form as they are presented, the easy language, everything wonderful. It is worthwhile to acquire that book, and to know Chris Georgenes's work later, visiting its site. I really have 3 special books on as to do cartoons using Flash, and that belongs one to them. Congratulations to who acquiring. You will acquire an excellent book



2. If you wish to animate on the web with flash, this is the five star book to buy. Everything is there. Get inspired with the friendly manner of how the whole book was laid out. So happy to get hold of a copy.



3. It is rare to find a professional who's willing to share such a wealth of knowledge built over the years. Most pro's in any field will write books full of fluff to satisfy their egos.
   Not Chris! This book is absolutely amazing. It is chock full of incredible techniques and tricks that will take your animations to the next level AND save you lots of time.
   
   ***To all beginners***: I am a beginner myself -I'm learning Flash on my own and have only used it for a few months. Even though this book does not start from zero, don't bother buying anything else. Do the basic Macromedia tutorials (for free) to learn the environment and then go straight to Chris' book. Of course, there's a lot of stuff that you will not get until you become more profficient, but that's the beauty of the book: that it'll grow with you. Trust me, if you're buying a book on Flash animation, make it this one!



4. Don't pay attention to comments about having 2 years Flash experience and this book is too advanced or whatever the comment was. If you have 2 years experience and cannot use this book then you are doing something wrong. I signed up for a free week trial at [...] and went through Chapters 3 through 10 and I bought this book the week after and I'm already creating my own characters and composing simple flash animations with lip synching and panning backgrounds. I've been working on Flash for about 2 months and this book boosted by productivity ten fold. This is the first review that I've ever written and it was so good that I decided to write on. No, I do not have any affiliation with the author or Lynda.com, I'm just telling you my opinion and experience in relation to using this book. I used the free trial week and didn't even have to pay for Lynda at all. This a great book if you know the basics of Flash such as creating and working with keyframes, tweens, etc.



5. How to Cheat in Flash CS3: The art of design and animation in Adobe Flash CS3
   This book have REAL helpful hits and tips to increase your productivity. I continual use this book as a resource and am think of buying How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3: The art of creating photorealistic montages (How to Cheat in)

2 comments about Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World: Adaptive Path on Design (Adaptive Path).

1. I started this on a Friday evening and couldn't put it down.
   
   This book outlines how businesses need to change to truly provide products and services that delight, inspire, and serve the needs of their customers. Unlike many other business books, it's not filled with thinly-veiled platitudes...Subject to Change is an honest accounting of the mercurial world of product and services, and how companies can structure their businesses to develop and deliver truly great experiences for the long haul.
   
   What makes this book special:
   * Real-world examples of how these practices have transformed businesses.
   * Honest, authentic voice of the authors...these people know what they are talking about, and are fervent believers in a customer-centric philosophy.
   * Clear concepts, engagingly described. The processes and models that are included make good business sense, and are concise and candid.
   
   Subject to Change is a focused read with a lot to offer.
   * If you're a business leader, read it to assess how well you're set up to successfully deliver products in the future (or how much you need to adapt to be successful.)
   * If you're a customer, read it to become inspired and excited about the future of the products and services you'll engage with.



2. Having read the classic The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web by the President of Adaptive Path, Jesse James Garrett, I was naturally excited to learn that four members of his team had worked on "Subject To Change." I was not dissapointed.
   
   Adaptive Path is a firm that has established itself as proponent of experience design as the basis to success. Their approach had never been more valid than today, as we face constantly shifting times and market conditions, making the design of products and services that can adapt to change critical for a company's success.
   
   The book introduces the experience that a customer has while using your product/service as THE product itself and, even more so, as the strategic path to winning in the marketplace. They define experience in ways that are easy to grasp: "[it] comes from the outside in; an appreciation of customer's motivations, behaviors, and context leads to the development of a product, service, or system that can satisfy them."
   
   By offering a plethora of examples, they get the point across very clearly. A good example of this is the case of Kodak and how they got it right by making it easy for people to take pictures and not have to bother with the technicalities involved in developing film, etc.
   
   Another approach they advocate is agility and leanness as an efficient and cost-effective means of developing the right solutions. This process involves multiple iterations, i.e. the admission that we don't always (even typically) get things right the first time; involving customers in the development process; not letting the obsession with documentation get in the way of getting things right.
   
   With its explanation of the importance of customer research (and customer focus), experience design and agile development as keys to success in today's shifting world, the book constitutes a must-read for leaders and all those directly or indirectly involved with product and service development today.

5 comments about Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to (X)HTML, StyleSheets, and Web Graphics.

1. Ms. Robbins has done a fantastic job of translating a technical language into easy to understand terms. If you're in the beginning stages and early intermediate stages of web design, this is an essential book to read from cover to cover. Her style is serious, yet offered with a dry wit that has caused me to chuckle out-loud more than once.
   The few weaknesses that I found were the sections on integrating CSS style sheets with the XHTML markup and VERY minimal examples of layout. The first 3/4 of the manual were so thorough that I'm still taken aback at how thinly she scratched the surface of how to bring it all together in a functioning 1-4 column design.
   All-in-all a solid and necessary book!



2. This is a very easy intro to xhtml and css. It's got nice full-color pictures, the text is very easy to read and understand, it's well worth the 30 bucks. I'm really glad I read it. The one thing I can't understand is why she doesn't mention css editors, in the software part of the book. She mentions only wysiwyg editors like dreamweaver; since reading the book I've found a css editor that has really helped me both understand and work with css. Something to add in ed. 4?



3. This book is not for beginners. I am a technology professional and am having trouble learning about web design using this book. One improvement would be to eliminate any definitions that contain a term that has not been defined and is completely unknown to the reader. Another would be to have a glossary. At least, one could then look up the unknown term. Found minor error in explaining how to do things on the PC; don't know about Apple. Structure of book was also too complicated.



4. I found the first few chapters to be interesting, learning some of the different branches that a person can go into in web design, and some of the "working terminology" for the different work roles and so forth.
   
   But after a few chapters, as I'm reading I feel like I'm sitting in a big university classroom being told the "only real right way" to be a web designer. The tone of the book and much of the terminology used to describe things leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
   
   I'm an open-minded guy looking to get into freelance web design, and any time someone tries to present "the mould which must be fit", when speaking about any topic, it turns me off and I pretty much am not willing to learn from them.
   
   I'm not looking to go out and work for some big corporate company and conform to the "official web design methods" as they seem to be being lain out in this book.
   
   That said, there is a lot to learn in here, and it's a dense book. But I'd agree with a previous reviewer who said that the presentation of the ideas is a bit chaotic and disjointed.
   
   If you're of a mind to be lectured to, this book could be worth taking bits and pieces from here and there, but if you're a free-thinking individual you too might notice that this book seems to be telling you the "only right way", instead of simply laying out the fundamentals of web design.
   
   The author is a big time professor in some big universities, so if you're turned off by the sort of "teaching" that is oftentimes done in such places, you probably don't want to waste your time with this one.
   
   I will check out the table of contents and pick out the best info, but this one isn't a keeper as far as I would say.



5. The book is in excellent condition. The shipment was quick.
   Thank you very much for it

5 comments about Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (Foundation).

1. This is a great book for beginners. I am about 250 pages into it at this point, having just completed building the mp3 player example this past weekend. I'm still not entirely clear on many details of Actionscript 3.0 having no prior experience in Actionscript, but I am getting there. The instructional style and design is good. Most examples are very clear and the authors make it fun to learn. Highly recommended.



2. Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers is a great book because it is simple enough for someone brand new to the Flash like me, and difficult enough to provide information useful for real world design.
   
   Each tutorial is easy to read with language not hard to understand like other software books. Also, for people who like to see things instead of read them, there are pictures on almost every page making it easy to see what the final product should look like.
   
   Another great feature of the book is the ability to use the index, find what you want to learn, and then go to that tutorial. Although it is smart to read the book from front to back, often you may want to find information about a specific task or feature. In the book, it is not necessary to read all to know one feature in Flash. You can just flip right to it.
   
   Lastly, the book does a good job of touching briefly on Action Script 3.0. The code is extremely difficult and the book does an excellent job of breaking it down so it does not seem too daunting or extreme, which is great for beginners.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone from beginner to immediate who is either interested in Flash for fun or is interested in designing for others.



3. Liking the book a lot so far. This book does a clear and concise explanation of the basics and on. It makes designers like me who really just do print and have been only doing online stuff minimally. I'm almost half-way through the book and learning has been fun. The explanations and terminology is easy to understand. It is also easy to follow as you have Flash CS3 open. Great walk through. I'm so glad I found this book. Now I'm not as scared to face the Flash monster and Actionscript. My next goal will be Dreamweaver.



4. This book is awesome. I used it as reference for a flash course that i took and it was very helpful.



5. If you are new to flash and have no experience whatsoever, the Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers from Tom Green and David Stiller is an excellent choice to get yourself familiarize with Flash CS3. I am very pleased with this purchase and learned a lot from this book. Flash is a very powerful program that involves ActionScript. Flash CS3 includes the latest version, ActionScript 3.0, which is a code oriented programming language. However, the authors tried to approach ActionScript 3.0 so that beginners will enjoy Flash. I am not a programmer, but after reading certain chapters changed the way I think about the process of coding. I can pinpoint the code to manipulate easily because it is clearly labeled and commented. As you follow along with the book, your skills will quickly give you the knowledge of becoming an advanced user.
   
   A good chapter to beginning learning the basics of ActionSript is chapter 4. The examples are dedicated to guide you through and inspire you to put your creativity to the test. They are extremely detailed and visually can follow along because of the screen shots.
   
   I am a new user to Flash and this book guided me through the program step by step. Like I stated before, I am just astonished at how detailed and easy the examples are. Anything that I wanted to do, the book gave a detailed example. This is an excellent book to get you familiarized with Adobe Flash CS3, whether you want to create an interactive game or a web page, this book will get you started on how to accomplish your goals using Adobe Flash CS3.

5 comments about Essential ActionScript 3.0 (Essential) (Essential).

1. Great book, well explained, very complete on all topics... in my opinion a must for all flash-developers. Even if there might be chapters you might want to jump as an experienced professional, this book is the perfect reference to sit on your desk and help you out when you don't know or don't recall some issue or maybe want to know the most accurate form of doing something.



2. Excellent. This book was recommended to me by a colleague, and I can't recommend it enough.
   
   As a C# and VB.NET programmer, I had plenty of experience to jump into the middle, but I found myself enjoying the early chapters so much that I decided not just to skim them, but to read them as carefully as the rest of the book. And in doing so, I was rewarded with tidbits of information that I would have otherwise missed.
   
   Anyone who wants a thorough understanding of ActionScript 3.0 would find this book incredibly valuable.



3. I mean in actionscript 3.0 you define variable as var x:int = 10 not var x = 10; that makes me confuse that it will deviate from standard later in book so why to continue. But like the style which is good for beginner who is not good at OOPS...



4. As an interface designer I've been working with Macromedia products since 1992. I feel that regarding the interface aspects of designing and producing a multimedia application the products have just devolved over time. I'm glad that Macromedia is no longer around and hope that Adobe will do better on this aspect.
   
   Actions Script 3 is just the last nail in the coffin of my relationship with this products: how can it be that at this point in time it take this book more than 600 pages to get to a level were you can actually move a movieclip on the stage? Were are the introductions to the readers that come from ActionScript 1 and 2 to at least make it easier for them to get up to speed?
   
   I think that Colin Mook's other books on the subject are good-the Actionscript 2 one was very good- but the amount of work that this one ask of the reader and the level of abstraction of the language truly trumped all my attempts to actually getting anything done.
   
   At more than 900 pages this is a heavy burden to carry around, but no electronic version comes with the book. I had to download one from bittorrent ,even though I bought one here in amazon, just to be able to search thru it and have it always with me. in the end the book is just sitting on a shelve collecting dust, I rather work in actionscript 2 for the time being.
   
   Spend your money elsewhere unless you already work with OOP at a fairly advanced level ( JAVA for instance): you will make a better investment in paying someone to code for you if in a hurry.
   
   Boy how I miss Mtropolis!



5. If you have a good background in Computer Science and you are brand new to ActionScript and Flash in general you will be frustrated.
   
   If you want to use Adobe Flex Builder (free for 90 days) and you go by this
   book then you'll find that none of the examples in Part I will give you anything, but an idea. If you want to evolve the discussed example you'd have to wait till Part II. Meaning by the time you get to do anything you'll loose any desire to evolve any of the examples from part one.
   
   I prefer to evolve the discussed example so I can remember it.
   For example Reader exercise on page 211, tell you to first read Part II of the book to come back and actually do it. That means I have to suspend my ongoing learning (including my desire) and skip ahead. Annoying.

5 comments about Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide.

1. I'm plugging away with Learning ActionScript because I can see how it's capable of amazing things, and I have been using Flash for a little while.
   However this book is written using the kind of language that seems simple to a programmer and obscure to the rest of us - a lot of what is written I simply can't fathom despite frequent re-reading (I'm afraid this probably says more about me than the writers of the book). It's probably best for those who are more familiar with the composition of scripts and want to upgrade to ActionScript 3. Not really a beginners guide.



2. Any computer library strong in web development titles in general and ActionScript in particular will want the beginner's guide to Flash, LEARNING ACTIONSCRIPT 3.0. It's an excellent introduction which also lends well to classroom use and assignment, covering all the basics of how ActionScript and Flash work and surveying logic, content, transferring projects to ActionScript, waveform visualization, loading HTML and more. Chapters offer hands-on exercises to reinforce skills building learning and also pair well with a companion web site offering material for all the exercises plus test quizzes. ActionScript learners will find it an essential - and surprisingly easy - reference.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. I'm surprised a book by O'Reilly was released with this many typos. I've been going through it and typing the tutorials that were new material for me. The amount of mistakes is just unacceptable, especially that many times it happens in code. The code is correct in the examples from their web site which begs the question, why didn't they just cut and paste it from the WORKING examples? The errata on their web site has a few of the mistakes but I've found many more.
   
   Anyway, apart from the ridiculous number of typos it is a pretty good book. I don't think its the be-all Flash book like some people on here that have been raving, but it is a good stepping stone book to learning some OOP. Its very practical and eases you from timeline code into classes. Most Flash books seem to go all timeline or all OOP, so good job to them for understanding their audience. Another knock I have is that in many examples they try to show you additional techniques apart from the main thing they are trying to illustrate. Normally I would applaud this because you just learn more, but too often here it just confuses. My last issue with the book is that it sometimes fails to explain an important element of code or give you a really vague explanation, even if that is the purpose of the exercise! Personally I want to know why I'm typing every line in so I can be more flexible when I write my own code, as opposed to blindly memorizing and hoping I remember it when I need it.
   
   All in all, you won't go wrong with this one, but it is by no means perfect. It could've been great. Its not. But its still good and worth a purchase.



4. After reading the other reviews I decided to give this book a try and I don't regret it.



5. First, please note that many of the 5-star reviews are written by experienced Flash professionals, who already have actionscript expertise -- and that makes them poor judges of how clear this book will be to a beginning audience.
   
   The book is explicitly written for beginners, but the authors often have a good grasp on what readers know. On one page they start talking about "trapping" events. What does that mean? Who knows?
   
   I have a good math background, so I was able to decipher the math chapter, but it contains explanations like, "A radian is the angle of a circle subtended by an arc along its circumference that is the length of the circle's radius (hence the name, radian)." What's the point of writing a sentence like that? Will it be understood by anyone who doesn't already know what a radian is? Has a math newbie even ever heard the word "subtend"? This casual use of undefined jargon happens in every chapter.
   
   Also, sometimes they're just wrong. They say that a ball moving 4 pixels to the right and 4 pixels down per second will have a velocity of 4 pixels per second in a south southeast direction. No. The Pythagorean theorem (which they explain, badly, in the next section), says the ball will be moving more than 5.6 pixels per second. And the direction is southeast.
   
   The book really is full of typos, and they're not all caught in the errata. It's necessary to go the website and download the code being discussed in the book. The files you download will have the correct code (though before you check the code, as you're reading the book you're thinking, "Do I not understand, or is this code wrong?") Unfortunately, the book sometimes refers to these files by the wrong name, so you have to figure out which file to open. That's really inexcusable -- how hard would it be for the authors to go to their own website and correctly name the files?
   
   Another random, infuriating example of the book's sloppiness: on page 144, the authors state a line of code "g.curveTo(275, 0, 400, 100);". In the context of the chapter, the hardest part of this code to understand is the "275, 0" and it's the one part they don't bother to explain!
   
   And as long as I'm ranting (I just threw the book down to come and write this), the authors often put unnecessary lines into the code. I'm left trying to figure it out, wondering, "Why did they put that there? Is it necessary?" so I try the code without the extra material, and it still works fine. But the authors never explain why it's there, so while you're trying to learn to read actionscript, wanting to understand the importance of each line and its relationship to the rest of the example, you're thinking, "Am I just missing the importance of this line? Or does it have no importance?" Learners shouldn't be left to wonder those things!
   
   It's a maddening book, full of unexplained terminology (I just found the phrase, "dedicated canvas"; huh?), incomplete explanations, bloated code, and many, many errors.

5 comments about Dreamweaver CS3: The Missing Manual.

1. I have had no prior experience with web programming, or with Dreamweaver. I really liked the flow of the manual and the amount of information in it. I did not realize how thick the manual is physically, but glad that it has so much information. The tutorials are a step by step process, which I needed to get me started. The examples and source files are all included. I recommend it.



2. It is discouraging to work with the book. To much small talk and very little hands on. You have to go trough four pages of autor's ideas and tips before you find what you are looking for or what you have to do. The book could be four times smaller and then would have been one of the best.



3. This book is a lifesaver! I still had many questions about Dreamweaver after taking a six-week online class, but no one to ask. Dreamwear CS3 the missing manual answered all of them and more. It has made my job easier, and completing task faster.



4. I like this book and the tutorials, and I'm glad I bought it, BUT it gets annoying after a while with how verbose it is. For instance, the author even says at one point in the first chapter,
   
   '"Enough already! I want to build a web page," you're probably saying.'
   
   Yes, you're right! That IS what I was saying!
   
   He then takes p.44-64, (20 pages!) to walk you through importing a graphic, copying a text file, adding a background, and centering the page in the browser. When you list on a piece of paper the steps that you just did and repeat it, it can be carried out within maybe 90 seconds.
   
   I started to think that this book is like friends you may have that are really nice, they're smart, and you like them, but they just can't give you the short version of a story! I find myself jotting in the margin the one thing from the whole page to remember.
   
   This is a book for absolute beginners, not only to Dreamweaver but to web pages in general. If you've been writing web pages in a text editor and just want to see how Dreamweaver can make everything easier, this book makes you want to pull your hair out! For instance, three leading paragraphs in Chapter 2 on adding text to your pages that can be summed up as, "Text is still the most important thing on the web". WE ALL KNOW THAT! Don't make me read a whole page for that!!
   
   I buy a new computer book about once a week, and this book does what so many are guilty of - sidebars to the point of distraction. There is a sidebar topic, hint, etc. on virtually every page of this book, which, along with the wordiness, adds to the "Let's get this done!" frustration you start to feel.
   
   If you're already familiar with html and web pages and aren't real patient with people that take forever to tell you something, get a different book.
   
   As another reviewer said, this book could be 1/4 its size and would be SO MUCH better!



5. I painful dug thru many of the "well respected" writing out there and none of them measure up to the clean and clearly well thought out to Dreamweaver CS3 The Missing manual by David McFarland .
   
   I recently moved from Front Page over to Dreamweaver CS3 and was looking for the one book to use and have found it after a long and sometimes a painful search.
   
   I had originally purchased Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Classroom in a Book based on the excellent verion of Photoshop by the same group. Yet the version that David wrote is far cleaner and it what I alway recommend to friends an colleges about " the right stuff" You just earned 5 stars from me, and I told hand those out very often...
   Keep up the awesome work David !