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Summary: Flash ActionScript for Designers
Review: Hate to be negative, but this book is not what I had hoped it would be. I'm an ActionScript junkie, and I find the greatest problem w/DSF is that it assumes too much, uses info out of nowhere wo/ explanation & often leads you down paths that dead end. EX: chp 3, "Coding the Slide Algorithm". The author tells you to check the x position of an instance vs. variable w/an "if" statement placed in a Frame Action . However, the code is incomplete (no closing "}"), and the later screen shot of the "complete code" does not include the "if" statement. So, what I am I to do with this code? Why is it there? It includes a variable that isn't even declared yet (bottom of page, 2 pages later), so what is it? How do I get it? Which totally detracts from the lesson. These questions and frustrations arise again and again...and you spend more time trying to figure them out instead of learning the uses and applications of the ActionScript itself. The author should have somebody proofing for copy errors, and someone proofing for AS errors and oversights.
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Summary: false premise
Review: Here we go again with another book from New Riders with great layout and graphics but content not worth the paper it's written on. Brendan Dawes states that this book is for designers with little scripting background. He states that if readers can pick up the programming skills needed to relax and "feel creative". ActionScript consists of understanding methods, classes and objects and placing error free code in the correct places (timelines or on symbols) and careful testing. This book teaches none of that.The book is full of "monkey see, monkey do" excercises. A careful reader can follow and repeat the tricks, but that's about it. No reader can walk away and begin coding based on the content in this book.
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Summary: TOO many errors
Review: I bought this book with much excitement based on the examples I was going to learn through the step and step approach. Brenden assumes you have some knowledge of ActionScript and therefore assumes that you can pick-up on his errors and correct them for yourself. For a newbie who is learning ActionScript for the first time should not be learning from a book with so many errors. Not only is this very, very frustrating for a newbie but it quells the excitement of a newbie from learning ActionScript....at least for awhile. The book was probably rushed out to the stores without thoroughly testing the examples.
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Summary: Errors.....errors.....errors
Review: I bought this book with much excitement based on the examples I was going to learn through the step and step approach. Brenden assumes you have some knowledge of ActionScript and therefore assumes that you can pick-up on his errors and correct them for yourself. For a newbie who is learning ActionScript for the first time should not be learning from a book with so many errors. Not only is this very, very frustrating for a newbie but it quells the excitement of a newbie from learning ActionScript....at least for awhile. The book was probably rushed out to the stores without thoroughly testing the examples.
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Summary: Dragging is not such a drag anymore!
Review: I got the book yesterday, and today I've already done things I thought I couldn't do. This is the first book that walks me through the code so that I understand what I'm doing and can apply it to my work. I also love that he explains effects I can really use. I've just completed the projects in chapter two, "Drag," and already I've learned more about movie clips than I had in the last four months. Finally someone has written a book on Flash that is clear and interesting and, best of all, immediately useful.
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Summary: About time!!!
Review: I just bought this book in Amsterdam at the Flash Forward conference. As a self confessed Flash/Actionscript book junkie I am really impressed by this title. Books on this subject tend to fall into one of two catagories - very basic or advanced scripting - Drag, Slide, Fade doesn't. It is squarely aimed at the designer who is comfortable using Flash and wants to know how to do cool scripted effects using their artwork and the software. It has a relaxed writing style and is easy to read through - well designed layouts help too. I've seen Brendan Dawes talk at several different events over the years and the title reflects his no-nonsense easy to grasp style. If you are a Flash designer looking to improve your scripting skills then this is the title to do it...
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Summary: Great Book to get started with Coding
Review: If you are new to coding, or are looking for alternatives to manual shape tweens, get this book. Clear, fun and engaging.
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Summary: Stimulates both sides of your brain-
Review: Perfect writing style for the material. The conversational tone is engaging and assuring while you are working with the coding techniques. One chapter-One effect format keeps you focused on understanding the relationships of the code segments described in each chapter. State-of-the-art graphic design is engineered through the insertion of code into a Flash movie. DRAGSLIDEFADE boldly illustrates Flash's transformation from a graphics program into a cross-platform programming language.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for beginner to learn some tricks
Review: Sometimes a book written for 'Designers' is equivalent to a book written for beginners---and this is how I feel when reading the book. The good thing of the book is most examples covered are easy to follow, and the technique explained are some useful techniques we see so often these days. The bad thing is this book can't really give you a solid foundation on actionscript such as Colin Moock's, nor provide great design insight like hillman curtis book provides. It's like a book with some flash examples that it just doesn't worth 45 dollars when there are plenty of these tutorials in the web already. The good thing is I still have 3 weeks to decide if I should return this book :)
Rating:
Summary: missed the mark
Review: This book claims to take the fear out of programming but it jumps right into writing raw code in "Advanced" mode as opposed to coding in "Normal" mode which I would assume to be the logical first step. The author does a good job of introducing the ActionScript language by using metaphors but failed to get me to actually program anything. This book is not for designers, maybe it is for programmers but, I would guess that programmers would require more depth than this book provides.
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