Everyone is talking about it, so we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Big Spaceship’s Pretty Loaded. Pretty Loaded is a collection of Flash preloaders packaged in a neat, sit back and watch format.

Initially, having already read the ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook, I wasn’t planning on reading another book focusing on introductory ActionScript 3, but then I started to hear more and more about Learning ActionScript 3.0 by Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser. Lee Brimelow is quoted on the cover calling it “The best ActionScript book ever written.” How can you argue with that recommendation?

For beginners, the book does a good job explaining core language fundamentals (variables, conditionals, loops, functions, etc.) and each aspect you would control with the language (vectors, pixels, sound, video, xml, etc.). And throughout the book’s tutorials the reader is shown the steps involved in building an XML based website, giving a nice continuity to some of the later chapters and reinforcing the importance of understanding the material.

As an experienced Flash developer, I particularly liked Chapter 7 on motion. They did an excellent job explaining how to use basic geometry and trigonometry within your Flash Projects for positioning and animation. It was a welcomed refresher.

I would recommend Learning ActionScript 3.0 to anyone wanting to familiarize themselves with Flash development. Otherwise, you would be doing yourself a disservice.