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January 3, 2007
What's the most popular Flex or ActionScript book?
At the end of every month there are a number of stats that I like to track, to try and gauge how well we're doing at spreading the word about Adobe technologies, mainly Flex and LiveCycle. One of the items that I started tracking last month was the Amazon book ranking for a number of Flex and ActionScript 3 books. I figure if the books are increasing in popularity, then the technology must be heading in the right direction. O'Reilly does something similar.
There are 8 books that I'm currently tracking from Amazon.com. In order of popularity, they are:
ActionScript 3 Cookbook
Advanced AS 3 with Design Patterns
Adobe Flex 2: Training from the source
Programming Flex 2: The comprehensive guide to creating Rich Internet Applications
AS 3 Pocket Reference
The complete guide to Flex 2 with AS 3
AS 3 Essential Training
Learning AS 3 Design: The non programmers guide to AS 3
I haven't read any of them, but I've heard very good things about the Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design Patterns book from other Flex developers.
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Comments
I'm not sure that the ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook qualifies as a "Flex 2.0 book". It's a useful book but I was dissapointed when I purchased it to find that it only covers the Flash Class Library and doesn't mention the Flex Class Library.
I have read most of these books and can easily recommend them. If you are going to get only one book, get the'Adobe Flex 2:Training from the Source'. It is the very best tutorial that I have ever read. Broad and sufficiently deep.
There is one book that is not on the list because it is not a mass-market book. But it is amazing. 'Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex and Java' from www.theriabook.com. The depth is fantastic. Learn about performance tuning, configuring the Flex compiler, good design strategies for building Flex component libraries, and much more. This book is the next step after the Adobe book. It comes with a PDF version of the book and a CD with dozen or so small-format video tutorials from a Flex conference, but the real meat is in the book: it gets you deep into the Flex tools. Even if you are not using Java on the server side (I use Rails), it is well worth the 70 bucks. My only complaint is that it is so big and heavy. Too heavy for a plane. But there is the PDF.
On the donw side, I have noticed a few errors in the code, but they seem a necessary evil when you consider how much is actually in the book.
I have read most of these books and can easily recommend them. If you are going to get only one book, get the'Adobe Flex 2:Training from the Source'. It is the very best tutorial that I have ever read. Broad and sufficiently deep.
There is one book that is not on the list because it is not a mass-market book. But it is amazing. 'Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex and Java' from www.theriabook.com. The depth is fantastic. Learn about performance tuning, configuring the Flex compiler, good design strategies for building Flex component libraries, and much more. This book is the next step after the Adobe book. It comes with a PDF version of the book and a CD with dozen or so small-format video tutorials from a Flex conference, but the real meat is in the book: it gets you deep into the Flex tools. Even if you are not using Java on the server side (I use Rails), it is well worth the 70 bucks. My only complaint is that it is so big and heavy. Too heavy for a plane. But there is the PDF.
On the donw side, I have noticed a few errors in the code, but they seem a necessary evil when you consider how much is actually in the book.
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