Who This Book Is Not For

[ LiB ]

Again, I would like to believe this book is perfect for everyone. Because Flash is such a large topic, however, it's really easy to point to what this book isn't:

• It's not about animation. Although there are a few mentions of where animation can be particularly effective, we don't make a single tween in this book.

• It's not about object-oriented programming (OOP) theory. Although I tried to make the example code as clean as possible, I definitely put a higher priority on communicating one point at a time instead of building the most elegant object-based code. That said, you will find some OOP in hereit just won't be highlighted. Branden Hall and Samuel Wan have a fine book on OOP called Object-Oriented Programming with ActionScript , also from New Riders.

• It's not a reference book. Although typing 400+ pages has made my hands sore, I haven't scratched the surface of ActionScriptlet alone Flash. Check out titles from Robert Reinhardt and Colin Moock for more complete references.

• It's not a cookbook, case study, or tutorial. However, it has elements of those book styles. You won't find a ton of code samples that you can just cut and paste into your apps. Also, I mention a few projects I've been on; they're just there to put things in perspective. Finally, the only places where you'll find specific step-by-step directions relate to using some of the newer features in a Flash MX 2004 work environment.

• It's not the last word. No doubt you can find other books concentrating on RIAs. This book is all me (plus the insightful input from several creative editors). There are plenty of objective details, but also lots of subjective ideas. In fact, the selection of what information to exclude from this book is a subjective editorial decision. I guess what I'm saying is that this is just one book. I'm very proud of it and I think you'll be happy, but it's still just one book. I'm sure there are lots of other books that will supplement it well.

[ LiB ]