Flash 4 magic

David J. Emberton
J. Scott Hamlin
324 pagine + CD, 45 US$
buy the book at amazon.com

This month, instead of the usual 'Licence to Flash' column, we would like to talk about a book worth 21 columns. It is the latest opus by David J. Emberton (FlashZone.com) and J. Scott Hamlin: Flash 4 Magic fresh from the press of New Riders editions.

We started liking this very carefully crafted book since the very moment we opened the package from Amazon. The format (25,5 x 22 cm) makes it a bit uncomfortable at first but once you start reading you will appreciate the way the authors use the wide pages to provide big, readable screenshots and to organize the text so that you can tell the code from the explanation and from the description of the images.

We are not talking about a book of lessons but more of a cook-book where one can find recipies to solve problems of various nature using Flash: from a shopping cart to a calculator, through a great version of the classic game: Pong.

In the CD that comes with the book 15 utilities and 6 games (all with the source .fla) demonstrate the use of the instruments that will improve your animations and make you discover the true power of Flash. The books provides the instructions to realize the 21 projects, as well as an appendix on ActionScript and resources for Flash developers.

Every project is introduced by a short text describing its features and possible applications. The how-to is then explained in easy steps and all necessary libraries of symbols are provided, so that you can concentrate on the learning off advanced techniques. In the end of every chapter a great 'How it was done' chapter explains the mechanics of how the application you just created works.

Some of the chapters of Flash 4 Magic:

• Preloader - Outfitting a Flash movie to playback smoothly over any Internet connection
• 24-hours Internet Quote Clock - Using external JavaScript to build a clock
• Guestbook - Using Flash and PHP to build a guestbook

Given the very clear language and the pragmatic approach of the authors we feel we can suggest its reading even to Flash developers who are not on the edge of experimentation but simply do some basic intro for their web sites or the occasional interactive menu.

Maybe you will not be able to fully appreciate the more advanced 'recipies' but you will understand how (relatively) easy and fun it is to make another step forward in the profession and start creating your first interactive gadgets. You will also have much clearer ideas on the great possibilities offered by Flash and of the potential of the application that has indeed become a new way of thinking the Internet.

Frederic Argazzi