Migration to AS3

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kingsman2 - 31 Jul 2008 20:16 GMT

:confused; I have been using Flash and Actionscript for some years now and I

have found it very difficult to take on board at times. I keep promising myself
that I will get to grips with Actionscript so that the applications I develop
look as good as the ones I see in Web Designer magazines. However, after a
really big effort to complete my prefered Actionscript2 book (Flash MX
2004-Derek Franklin/ Jobe Makar-training from the source) I find myself
questioning my efforts and start to wonder if AS3 is going to be easier to get
to grips with. I have read reports on AS3 being ten times faster in terms of
its processing power, but what percentage of the web industry has migrated to
AS3? Do I forget AS2 and focus my efforts on AS3 in order to improve my
development skills and gain a better position in the job market or what?

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bhnh - 31 Jul 2008 20:26 GMT

Technical and philosophical arguments aside, knowing AS3 will make you more
employable. If you scan the current job opportunities on respectable job sites
(sadly, the Adobe jobs forum has gone to seed), you'll see the BIG demand is
for AS3 developers, usually coupled with some knowledge of [b]Flex[/b]. I'm in
the process of making the (painful) transition to AS3 myself, just to finish
getting my kids through college.

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kingsman2 - 31 Jul 2008 20:42 GMT

:smile; Thanks for your prompt reply bhnh ! Do you have any AS3 and / or Flex text books or training media you can recommend or suggest? thanks in advance and good luck with the college funds!

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bhnh - 31 Jul 2008 21:29 GMT

For AS3 I'd suggest:

[b]ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University[/b] (QUE) by Gary Rosenzweig.
I find Rosenzweig's books to be a great start. He doesn't go into massive
depth, but presents a bunch of projects that you can get up and running
quickly; learning in bite-sized pieces.

[b]Learning ActionScript 3.0[/b] (O'Reilly) by Shupe and Rosser. Very good,
even though the writing style is sometimes comically erudite.

[b]Essential ActionScript 3.0[/b] (O'Reilly) by Colin Moock. I like Moock's
instruction, though he tends to get sidetracked a lot in minutiae. The whole
book's devoted to creating a single project... that you sometimes feel will
never end.

As for Flex, I've picked up a copy of [b]Adobe FLEX 3 - Training from the
Source[/b] (Adobe Press), but haven't had the opportunity to take a crack at it.

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Webmaster Forum / Flash / Flash Actionscript / July 2008

Migration to AS3