ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Onward!

Our ActionScript conversation is over, but yours has just begun. By reading Part I and Part II, you’ve learned to speak ActionScript—now it’s time to apply that knowledge to your own projects. Before you embark, here are a few parting thoughts:

• As with any art form, learning to program is a process not an event. For as long as you program, you’ll learn more about programming. Consider the multiple-choice quiz example from Chapter 1, Chapter 9, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13—we rebuilt it four times! Each time we refined our approach, added features, and learned something we hadn’t considered before. Just as each painting teaches the painter something new about her subject matter, so creating and recreating applications will reveal new approaches to you.

• There’s practical help in Part III, which contains detailed descriptions of ActionScript’s built-in functions, properties, classes, and objects. While you may not want to read it from start to finish, you should definitely skim each topic so you have a sense of ActionScript’s capabilities.

• Revisit this book and Part III often. You’ll pick up new insights each time through because you’ll be considering the information with a higher level of understanding and will be able to relate concepts to real-world experiences. Treat Part III as a dictionary and keep it by your side while you work.

• There’s a thriving community of Flash developers out there offering ideas and solutions and—most importantly—sharing source code! Dissect as much ...