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3 Comments on “ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques (Adobe Developer Library) Reviews”

1. 
   Lawrence Maccherone Jr. "Software craftsman a...
   April 30th, 2011 at 7:56 pm

   92 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Worse than uninformative, it’s actually mis-leading, August 27, 2007

   By 

   Lawrence Maccherone Jr. “Software craftsman a… (Pittsburgh, PA) –
   
     

   This review is from: ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques (Adobe Developer Library) (Paperback)

   My biggest complaint with this book is that the authors basically just took the design patterns found in Java and C++ and re-implemented them to run under ActionScript 3 (AS3). The list is comprehensive, but it’s clear that the authors don’t “think in AS3″.

   In several core ways, AS3 is very different than Java and even more so with respect to C++. For instance, the event model is baked into the language and asynchronous programming is a different style. Also, XML and XPath are native constructs in ActionScript 3, not libraries like they are in other languages. These differences (among others) imply that some of the original Gang of Four (GoF) and Java patterns manifest themselves differently and some patterns don’t apply at all. There are a few places in the book where the authors use the built-in events infrastructure and few other native features, but it’s clear that they don’t think in AS3. It seems like they think in Java.

   For instance, the observer pattern is one of the core GoF and HeadFirst patterns. However, the native event capability in AS3 serves the same purpose. Rather than show you how/why to use the native event capability, this book happily shows you an AS3 translation of the GoF/HeadFirst observer pattern and never tells you to use the built-in event capability instead. In contrast, the Joey Lott and Danny Patterson book from Adobe Press, does not have a section on the observer pattern, but there is a chapter on “WORKING WITH EVENTS”.

   The above problem would be enough for me to recommend that you not buy this book but it gets worse. This book is not even great at teaching you how to think in design patterns. To be fair, neither is the original GoF design patterns book nor is the Lott/Patterson book. The best book for this purpose is the HeadFirst book. Its examples are Java but, the HeadFirst book walks you through application evolution which really makes the case for why the patterns are useful. The HeadFirst book also includes exercises and discussion as well as a quirky style that really make the concepts sink in so you learn to recognize when to use each pattern.

   If you are an AS3 programmer who is already familiar with design patterns, just get the Lott/Patterson book. If you are new to design patterns, get the HeadFirst book AND the Lott/Patterson book.

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2. 
   T. Kocheran "the godfather"
   April 30th, 2011 at 8:51 pm

   7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Who edited this book?, June 6, 2008

   By 

   T. Kocheran “the godfather” –
   
     

   This review is from: ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques (Adobe Developer Library) (Paperback)

   The concepts in this book are great for any Actionscript developer and they thoroughly explain solutions via design patterns. I’d recommend this book to any aspiring AS3 developer.

   HOWEVER, there is so many horrible mistakes in this book. While the content is awesome, it seems like the editor was plastered when he put this little job together. In Chapter 7, it is almost unbearable. Words are omitted, code is omitted, sections are re-pasted into the book often… it’s utterly horrible. I keep finding myself getting upset trying to read this book because so much is left out and so much is repeated identically on the next page!!!

   All in all, if you’re interested in learning Design Patterns (and they are very useful) buy this book. The content is great, the editor should be fired from the universe.

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3. 
   Itai Asseo "Casual Flasher"
   April 30th, 2011 at 8:55 pm

   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Great detailed book, February 18, 2008

   By 

   Itai Asseo “Casual Flasher” (Brooklyn, NY) –
   
     

   This review is from: ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns: Object Oriented Programming Techniques (Adobe Developer Library) (Paperback)

   I bought this book when I wanted to pick up on Design Patterns in AS3 (I had little to no experience with DP in AS2), and after I read “Essential ActionScript 3.0″. I bought it without reading any reviews because I like O’reilly books, but after I placed the order, I looked at the reviews, and noticed that people were favoring “Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design Patterns” (by Joey Lott and Danny Patterson) — so I went to the closest B&N and picked it up a day before the O’reilly one arrived, so I was able to compare. I must say that I liked the O’reilly book by FAR over the other one, mostly because of the detailed and extensive examples, descriptive copy and easy-to-follow real-life samples (even though the author referred to Gnarls Barkley as a person at one point.. haha).

   So – for someone like me, who knew AS3 (the books assumes you do), but wanted to get into OOP with Design Patters, this was an excellent choice. I would highly recommend it.

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