Most instructional books try to appeal to too large an audience, but ActionScripting in Flash clearly defines who it is written for and then actually delivers the goods. Author Kerman singles out two specific groups: Flash 5 users who have gotten their feet wet with animations but want to branch out with scripting, and programmers who want to apply their skills to Flash. He has devised a unique structure for this book. The first section, which can be read without running Flash, covers the basics of programming (scripting) in Flash (and, to some degree, programming in general). The second includes tutorials built around many commonly needed tasks (e.g., creating a horizontal slider and creating JavaScript cookies). Kerman stresses that his code doesn\'t represent the only solution, and isn\'t necessarily even the "prettiest" code--it\'s the code that makes the most sense in explaining how to work out the problem. There\'s even deliberately bad code here. In a very novel chapter, the book challenges readers to fix 10 faulty Flash files, offering first a clue and then the solution. Since so much of real-life work, particularly in animation applications like Flash, is spent debugging and finding one\'s way out of a seemingly dead end, this chapter is really valuable. (By going to phillipkerman.com, you can view a detailed description of all chapters, download selected ones in .pdf format, view all completed Flash animations, and download all the .fla files to work alongside the text.) Another advantage is Kerman\'s own teaching style. Using many metaphors, he describes how the pieces of script work in a way that is often clearer than mere definition of function, and definitely easier to remember. For example, "If you think of most variables as an empty whiteboard onto which you can write a value, an array is like a whiteboard with permanent horizontal lines separating many pieces of information." It\'s true that one can copy code and instantly get results, but to devise and debug your own requires the kind of internalized understanding one can get from working through this book.
