Master the principles of object-oriented programming as it is used with the most recent version of ActionScripting.

This book is designed to provide readers with an understanding of object-oriented programming, ActionScript 2.0, and the interaction of the two. Section 1 begins with an introduction to ActionScript 2.0 and the specifics of building classes in AS2. Other topics of discussion include adding properties and methods to classes, inheritance, interfaces, inter-object communications, the details and implications of object-oriented design as a process, and working with and building components. Section 2 investigates the server side of applications. In the new Rich Internet Application paradigm, Flash MX 2004 is used as the user interface to an Internet based Client-Server application, and we will frequently need to interact with other server based technologies. Chapters discuss the importance of the server model; specific methods to interact with different server side technologies, including WebServices, XML files, and even simple text files; and the specific ramifications of working with the Flash Communication Server. Section 3 ties all of the concepts presented in the first two sections together by building a single cohesive application. Step-by-step procedures for conceptualizing and building the application are provided along with detailed coverage of how to debug and optimize the application.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 14 Ratings

Note from the Author - 2004-11-18
Reviewer Rating:
A number of issues were introduced to this book after the code left the authors hands. A correct version of all the source code can be found online at http://www.oopas2.com.

Thanks for reading our book.

Jeff Tapper

My first New Riders Book...Maybe my last... - 2005-07-14
Reviewer Rating:
I hate to be another person to mention the large amount of typos and poorly formatted code, but I can't help it. It truely is as terrible as everyone says.

I have past programming and Actionscript experience, so it's pretty easy to pick out the errors in the code examples. So, I'm hoping that the author's updated downloadable code will help me feel better about spending money on this book.

Currently I'm about 200 pages into the book, other then typos and poor code formatting, the book seems like it might be a good primer to help me get started. If they do a second edition of this book they should definitely take the time to explain what's happening in the code in greater detail. Some of the concepts and examples leave you wishing that there was another paragraph/page or two about what was done.

This is my first New Riders book and if this is what I should expect, it will definitely be the last. The editors at New Riders should be ashamed.

Lots of problems - 2006-03-23
Reviewer Rating:
I feel bad for the authors; it sounds like they're taking the heat for all of the negative vibes surrounding this book, when in all likelihood the responsibility lies with the editors and/or publishers. It definitely smacks of "get it out the door quick" marketing.

I won't mention the atrocious code samples in the book (it's true...they're horrible. At least the downloadable codes seems to have fixed that -- thank you, authors).

I won't mention the spelling and grammar mistakes (again, though, it's true...the editor(s) must have just verified that the manuscript was, in fact, about ActionScript and called it good).

I will mention that I found the book generally useless. To be fair, I read Moock's Essential ActionScript 2.0 first, which I personally found much more informative and worthwhile. I followed it up with OOPAS2, thinking that I could only solidify my OOP knowledge, but would up feeling that it was a darn good thing that I read Moock's book first, or else I would have been totally lost in OOPAS2. I just don't feel that the book is well organized or that it presents ideas effectively.

At some points conepts are belabored until they bleed, and other concepts are just sort of casually mentioned and never heard from again.

The example files and exercises aren't exactly useful. Contrast that with Essential AS2, which provides a useful class for nearly every full example. Let's see, from Moock you get an design pattern frameworks, an ImageViewer, a Logger, and several other rather useful class files. In OOPAS2 you get a Loan application and a Magazine subscription application.

To make another comparison with Essential AS2, that book closes with an excellent introduction to Design Patterns, which was the first time MVC made sense to me. OOPAS2 doesn't talk about Design Patterns.

OOPAS2 does spend the middle third of the book talking about XML, Web Services, Flash Remoting, and Flash Communication Server. Those are all extremely great things to talk about, but the connection to Object-Oriented Programming was weak at best. That whole section just seemed tacked on. In all, it did the book a huge disservice by taking pages away from "real" OOP stuff, and consequently trying to cram a huge thing like FlashCom or Remoting into a single chapter. Come on...write a book on Remoting, don't shove it into a book on OOP.

I need to stop an remember that there were actually a few redeeming qualities about the book, but they are far outweighed by the negative qualities.

If you can only afford one OOP for AS book, make it Moock's book (I haven't read the new OOP for Flash 8 book from Freinds of Ed, that one looks worthwhile, too). I wish I could even recommend getting both, but really, the book is so scattered that it's really not worth it. If you're serious about OOP, you won't care about the middle section too much. And if you want to learning Remoting and the like, then you're much better off buying a dedicated book(s) on the subject. And the last section where they build the sample application is just, well, "eh." I rarely don't finish something that I start, but they just lost my interest in the last section. I couldn't see any point in actually building the app that they were building.

Go with Moock's book or the new Friends of Ed one (hopefully).

Buy this Book! - 2004-10-25
Reviewer Rating:
This is the only actionscript 2.0 book currently on the market that will teach you the best practives of biulding an object oriented data integrated business application with actionscript 2.0. Thank god it was not another one of those "using flash to rotate a bouncing ball across the screen" books. You see the all important up front process modeling and then the actionscript code for building a data integrated flash application. This is also not a "fluffy" 10 pound bible book that just regurgitates the Macromedia livedocs. You learn by seeing an application built with object oriented class methodology, and many commparisons showing alternatives built with the visual data components. The author will enlighten you that actioscript is the best way to build a flexible data integrated business application, as opposed to just using the "quick and dirty" visual data components. It is immediate that the author is a real software architect, and this book demonstrates best practices of building a business application. This book is worth triple its price. Buy this book!

A solid introduction - 2005-08-04
Reviewer Rating:
There may be typos and errors in the code, but for a solid introduction to OOP in flash you can do a lot worse than this book. The concepts are addressed logically and intelligently and it provides a great framework for incorporating OOP into your actionscript. I regularly recommend the book as a great introduction to the subject.

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