Book Club

Object-Oriented Programming with ActionScript 2.0 assumes you know your way around Flash and know the basics of procedural programming but know little or nothing about Object Oriented programming.

The first section of the book takes you through concepts in OOP. Starting with explanations of syntax, classes, methods, attributes and other necessary building-blocks to OOP. The explanations are concise and usually pretty clear. Sometimes I had to read chapters twice before I really grasped things. I liked how the book didn't stray too far from software design by using completely abstract examples. The main example used was a loan program which was a fairly simple concept illustrated clearly through verbal explanations and code.

The next section of the book delves into applying your knowledge of OOP to various practical situations. XML, web services, data integration and the communication server are discussed. Again, with useful examples throughout.

Finally, you're walked through a sample application, created from scratch using the principals of OOP.

I think that while the book gives an adequate coverage of OOP using ActionScript, many topics could stand to be elaborated on to a greater extent. The examples given were good, but I would have liked to see a broader spectrum. I, for instance, will be applying many of the things I learned to making user interactivity and interface animation more efficient and avoiding re-writing code for user interface effects. The book had very little in the way of how to use OOP to improve user interface design and interactivity. Most was focused on application logic.

Another thing that I noticed immediately was the typography and layout. It is less than impressive. Code is often formatted in a way that is difficult to read, margins are tight and consistency is at a minimum. This of course, does not affect the actual content, but it does make enjoying the book slightly more difficult.

If you don't have any background in programming, this book is not your starting point. If you're already familiar with Flash and programming (ActionScript or otherwise), it's a great way to take the next step to the world of Object Oriented programming.

Review by: Marcus Vorwaller
May 7, 2004