Re: FLASH: A teacher wonders why ActionScript tutorials "bite"

[Dominik Kowalczyk]

Hm,

I have to say that I agree with Tom.

I'm new in Flash Technology. I've started to learn Flash 2-3 weeks ago, and now I know

almoust everythink (I hope so) except ActionScripting. I can't find good tutorial. Good

for me means written in simple language, written for everybody (like Flash 3 by Coriolis).


Anyone know good book or e-tutorial?


DK


> Tom Green wrote:

> >

> > I had lunch today with a fellow member of this list and it quickly

> > degenerated into a whining session regarding ActionScrpt tutorials.

> >

> > The bottom line was : Why are actionscript tutorials are generally

> > written for geeks by geeks?

> >

> > There was even a post today that tended to overlook the fact that one of

> > the most common questions on this list is "Where do I learn

> > ActionScript"?  The post?

> >

> > "The radio button script is basic and covered pretty much line-by-line

> > in the

> > above-referenced URL:

> > On (Press)

> >       Set Variable: "numChildren" = ..:numChildren

> >       Set Variable: "counter" = 1

> >       Loop While (counter <= numChildren)

> >             Set Variable: "arrayElement" = "..:child_" & counter

> >             Set Variable: "control" = Eval (arrayElement)

> >             Begin Tell Target (control)

> >                   Go to and Stop (1)

> >             End Tell Target

> >             Set Variable: "counter" = counter + 1

> >       End Loop

> >       Set Variable: "..:selected" = _target

> >       Go to and Stop (2)"� and so on.

> >

> > If you are new to this, does this make any sense  without a clear

> > annotation of each line of code?

> >

> > I am not attempting to crap in the nest here but my students find it

> > extremely difficult to learn ActionScrpting because the assumption made

> > is the reader already knows what it is about and how to do it. For

> > example, I purchased Milburn and Croteau's book because John did the the

> > code sections. Great explanations of what the code is all about . There

> > is nothing  about how to use it and there were no comprehensive

> > tutorials that walk the newbie through the creation process of things

> > like pop down menus , preloaders or Drag and Drop. Even the educational

> > material from Macromedia assumes a prior in depth knowledge of the

> > language. When the student goes looking for good tutorials on Chrissy's,

> > John's , Colin's and even Asmussen's sites they are confronted with a

> > pr�cis of how it was done. I just wish there were tutorials that start

> > with :

> >

> > 1. Open Flash

> > 2. Open a new document.

> >

> > Get my drift? This has bugged me to the point where I have asked John if

> > I could "deconstruct" his Ultimate Preloader, document it and use it as

> > a handout for my students. John has graciously given his permission and

> > I have submitted my first draft to him for his comments and criticisms.

> > So, I am doing something about it ( apart from whining)  but ,gosh,

> > there could be more.

> >

> > Good examples of tutorials that work are over in the Director universe.

> > One of the best Lingo books on the market (for the newbie) is Director

> > DeMystified by Jason Roberts. If you think ActionScript is tough just

> > wrap your mind around Director's language- Lingo. Yet Jason presents

> > Lingo and its concepts through a series of step by step tutorials that

> > clearly lay out the code and the logic behind it. His Swifty exercise

> > that gets into case statements, custom handlers and variables  is

> > absolutely brilliant and goes for a full chapter. The upshot with this

> > book is the student needing to code a button can reference the relevent

> > pages and walk through it and reproduce it. Once they have gotten

> > through Jason's book then they can wade through Gary Rosenweig's

> > Director 7 book and take what they have learned to the next level. This

> > just simply isn't the case over here in the Flash universe. The closest

> > I have ever encountered were the .pdf's from the Minister in South

> > Carolina over on Chrissy's site.

> >

> > In fact, the Lingo code explanation revolution started when Gary

> > Rosenweig  saw what I am talking about and did something about it on the

> > Direct-L list. He posted a site that was a series of concise lessons

> > that walked the newbie through the language with practical, annotated

> > examples. Ventanna noticed and his site became his Director 5, 6, and 7

> > books. Each one was even better than its predecessor.

> >

> > Now for my questions. Are there any sites that annotate and clearly

> > demonstrate Actionscript technique? If not, why not?

> >

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