last november, at shockwards in germany and macromedia's max conference, i announced my next book, "Essential ActionScript 2.0" (eas2). at that point, i put up a sample chapter and a table of contents here:
>> essential actionscript 2.0 minisite
despite the fact that the manuscript has been complete since december, eas2 has been delayed due to factors out of my control (and out of o'reilly's control).
fortunately, work on the book has now resumed in full force, and we're doing everything we can to get it out as soon as possible. i still can't give a firm date, but rest assured that it won't be too long.
here's what eas2 will offer:
-complete coverage of actionscript 2.0
-for newer programmers, a gentle description of object-oriented programming
-for experts, an extensive guide to best-practice oop development with actionscript 2.0
-discussion of gui application architecture and development
-an introduction to design pattern-based development
-4 extended chapters showing design patterns in real-world sample applications
here's what's not in the book:
-a dictionary-style listing of new flash player 7 classes and objects. the new book is not "asdg3," so you won't find a language reference in it.
-coverage of remoting, flash communication server, and other peripheral flash topics. this book's focus rests squarely on as2 and oop.
if you have any questions, post a comment. (i'll leave comments open for a few days.)
to be notified when as2e ships (hopefully Q1 2004), please join the moock-updates mailing list
Posted by moock at February 8, 2004 08:19 PMThank you for your ASDG book! Excellent material. Very easy to understand and to follow.
Eagerly awaiting AS2E!!!!
Posted by: doug at March 11, 2004 11:53 AMSince I had the privilege of serving as a beta reader for ActionScript 2.0 Essentials, I want to assure your other visitors that this new book is going to be well worth the wait. It taught me techniques and strategies that I could apply immediately and that have greatly improved my programming.
Also, I want to join the chorus of voices asking you for ASDG3. Of the eight AS books on my shelf, ASDG2 is the one I turn to 90% of the time for answers, and it never fails to provide what I'm looking for. You'll be providing a great service to us all if you update it.
Posted by: Nick Reeder at February 25, 2004 08:34 PMi believe macromedia introduced as2 as part of the industry-wide evolution of ecma-262, upon which javascript is also based. when flash 6 (mx) shipped, there was no specification upon which to base a massive upgrade to the oop facilities of the language. by the time 2004 shipped, such a specification did exist, and there was more and more pressure from application developers to implement better oop support. i don't believe macromedia is being nefarious...it's just the natural evolution of the language and platform. that said, i doubt the language will be completely revamped again any time soon. as2 is somewhat close to java syntax, and java has been pretty stable for about 7 years now. additionally, the core syntax of as2 has not changed. you still do loops, conditionals, arrays, etc in the same way. it's just the oop stuff that's new. trust me, if you already know oop in as1, you'll likely love as2.
Posted by: colin at February 11, 2004 11:33 AMI hope your AS2E ships early, because after reading your first ASDG and your second ASDG, i donīt wanna buy/read any other book on the terms. I think your books are the best ones to works with flash. The question is: Why Macromedia didn't did this drastic changes before? Will be this new version of oop model & workingflow change drastically on the future?. I'm asking you because I think macromedia did it wrong forcing us to learn a way of doing things that they don't continue now.... if they knew it before, why the didn't do it for once... as they did it, you have to write a new book (ASDG3) to re-teach us something, that you already re-teach us in your ASDG2.
Posted by: oscar reales at February 11, 2004 08:46 AMThanks for posting the update. Though I've been looking forward to this book, I'm really hoping that the Definitive Guide update is in the works. I am sick of MM's poor / inaccurate documentation and am looking forward to your updated Guide.
Thanks for your hard work on these books!
no timeframe on asdg3. i'm more concerned with finishing as2e right now...
Posted by: colin at February 8, 2004 10:25 PMIs there any timeframe for an ASDG3?
Also: A hearty thank you to you (and O'r) for ASDG2 and ASCB -- I'm finishing up my first Flash app, and I'm still amazed by what I've created it. Thanks!
Posted by: Larry Yudelson at February 8, 2004 09:56 PM