After having made the switch to AS3 about a couple of months ago I have to admit it was a huge pain for me to upgrade from AS2. It just helped by someone, who made the switch, so I can easily absorb the AS3. So keep reading and learn from someone who has made the switch, it’ll make in the end learning AS3 really will make your life easier.
5. Senocular’s Getting Started with ActionScript 3.0 in Adobe Flash CS3 Tutorial
Although Senocular states it’s still “a work in progress” this tutorial contains a ton of awesome info on learning AS3. The fifth page of the tutorial is particularly good as it gives a nice overview of classes for someone new to Object Oriented Programming. Probably the best first site you’ll want to read through for a good overview of AS3.
4. Kirupa’s ActionScript 3 Tip of the Day
Senocular makes the list again with his never-ending forum post of ActionScript 3 tips. Even though some of the tips are from 2006 they are still completely relevant today. I always learn something new whenever I skim through the pages.
3. gotoAndLearn()
Lee Brimelow is a great man. He spends his days creating videos showing you how to do things in Flash. And it’s not boring, irrelevant stuff either. It’s cool, useful stuff like using Papervision3D and Tweener. And best of all it’s completely free. Highly recommended.
2. Flash Help Documentation
The help documentation inside Flash is probably the most overlooked resource. Everything you need to know is right there and it’s written surprisingly well for a help file. Lots of examples are given showing actual code usage. I constantly see people posting on forums asking how to do things when a simple search in the help file would tell them everything they wanted to know. Need to know how the drawing API works? Just look it up! It’s all there. You can even view it online.
1. Google
This might sound stupidly obvious but honestly just searching on Google for what you immediately need to know is the best way to learn AS3. There are so many random blogs out there and forum postings just filled with great info about whatever you need to know. Instead of going to a specific website or picking up a certain book I always find myself just going to Google time and time again.
I know even a good programmer or the best programmer is in need of help or they need reference for anything. Just like I always thought once I became a good programmer I would just automatically know everything off the top of my head and I’d be able to just write programs straight through without referencing anything. I know it probably never will happen. Learning really is a never ending process. No matter how much you know you will constantly be thinking “What’s the best way to do this?”, “Is this even possible to do?” and “How have others solved this problem?”.
My best advice is keep practicing AS3, and start something converting some of your projects from AS2 to AS3. Even you don’t profit in practicing, but you gain experience and knowledge, which you’ll might use it someday, like me. My experience is if I need to know it to complete a project I’ll learn it – and I won’t stop until I get the solution in the problem, I keep searching and researching and reading. I bookmark the pages which is important to me, so I can open again and again, so I can always remember it. So if you wait until you “know” AS3 before taking on a AS3 project you’ll never do it. The right time to make the switch will never come. So just jump in and do it using the resources above as your guide.
- mykhel
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