design and development

My disappointment with this book is it lacks natural flow. I found myself drifting out of thought because the book has you shuffling files around every other page. I also share the discouraging fact that you must work through six chapters (half the book) before you are really engaged in "Application Development".
There seems to be a rash of poorly written books emerging under the heading of Flash MX 2004 - 2004 Pro and the best way to gage the relevancy of a new book before you buy it is to see how well the resale price is holding up in the used book market. If the price has dropped significantly after the release, you probable should buy something else or buy it used so you do not end up kicking yourself later. This one is already half of its list price; could it be that only half of it is worth paying for?

On a scale of 1-10 this book rates a 6. It is not a bad book, but not a good one either. It rates mediocre because of the approach that the author chose and the lack of continuity. At first glance it appears that the book is for the novice actionscript user, then 50 pages into the first chapter the author jumps into intermediate instruction. On a good note, this book does make an excellent reference material in addition to having another Flash actionscripting book.

This is a great starting point if you are new to flash application development. It covers all the basics of what you need to know in order to start developing RIA's using Flash MX 2004.

It's *NOT* an "advanced" book by any means, and it's not a reference, but it IS a good book if you want to learn. It mirrors Jeanette's training course that she developed for Macromedia (she is a Macromedia employee).