Author: Adobe Creative Team
Publisher: Adobe Press, 2008
Pages: 384
ISBN: 978-0321579218
Aimed at: Creative designers who want to use ActionScript and CS4
Rating: 3
Pros: Hands-on lessons with materials on CD
Cons: Difficulty level ramps up quickly
Reviewed by: David Conrad

This is a lavishly produced tutorial-style book complete with a CD bound into the back containing all of the materials used and produced in the lessons.

It is important to note that it uses CS4 as the development IDE which implies that it's aimed more at the creative designer who wants to add some ActionScript to their animations or movies. This does seem to be the case because the initial lessons start off very slowly with lots of space devoted to simple ideas such as what is a variable. The lessons are difficult to get anything from unless you are ready and willing to actually work through them while sitting at a copy of CS4.

If you simply want a book that tells you how things work this isn't for you. It could probably get a non-programmer off the starting blocks and understanding enough to ask the right questions. My one reservation about the book is that while it starts slowly it ramps up to a fairly high level. I can't see that a complete beginner is going to be able to go from Chapter One to the end without stopping and giving the material time to mature and even then they might well need a helpful programmer to sort out the more difficult bits.

If you are a non-programming CS4 user then this might be the book to get you into programming.