Learning AS...

First off, I continue to really enjoyed KM and I'm completely impressed with the talent here, however I am out in the weeds reading while folks discuss Action Script and I would love to 'attempt' to learn it. :rolleyes: I have no formal Web Dev training and was wondering the best way to approach learning AS. Has anyone had any experience with Learn AS 2.0 ?
Being an RN and hustling to pay off a Grad School loan limits my ability to go to school and get the foundation needed to do it right but I would be willing to invest a couple of hundred bucks if I would get enough from it to have a clue. Thanks for any input.... :)

Keep in mind that KM is AS 1.0 format not AS 2.0... The programmers have done a great job of supporting Flash 8/9 export options that can into being in AS2, and much AS2 works with some modification, Untill AS3 is part of KM (not anytime soon from what I understand). You are best off learning from AS1 sources. I found a used ActionSctipt Bible for cheap and if you look on Amazon.com I bet you can find many Actionscript books that predate AS2 used or new cheap.

And I constantly use livedocs the online manual to remember syntax and commands.
http://livedocs.macromedia.com/flash...rt4_ASLR2.html

While it is an AS2 reference I find it most usefull as it has all the new flash 8 stuff in it. Like filters and bitmaps loadVars etc.

Bret is right, the livedocs should be on the list of places to head for ALWAYS. It always reflects the most current information on anythingreleated to actionscript. What can be frustrating about the livedocs is it is they are meant to be read in place (there is no downloadable compilation of all items) and sometimes you just want something you can carry around to read. That is where E-Books can help. Search the internet for "Actionscript E-Books" or similar.

Here is a link to 23 free e-books (scroll down when you get there to see the list) to get you started:

Free Flash E-Books

Most will open a pdf in your browser window but you can right click the main links to "save target as" and download them for offline reading instead. :thumbsup:

KM only uses AS1.

I have never had ANY AS training at all and I can write some fairly decent code now. I'm by no means a Wilburt, Chris or any of the "bigger" name coders here but I know enough now to actually contribute.

You can see some of the stuff I've done on Koolexchange or at two websites that I've designed Nightshade Films and nssclan

THE ONLY education I have with actionscript is from here. It's from asking for help on this board and reading scripts that have been well commented. MOST stuff that you'll need to know is fairly easy and can be adapted to different needs.

By far, my biggest research (other than KM Forum) is from Macromedia's Live Docs (now owned by Adobe)

My recommendation is to download as many of the Koolexchange programs you can and begin pulling them appart. Many of the coders are pretty good at commenting their scripts for people to learn from.

Then what I would do is start thinking of some projects you'd like to do then begin building them. When you need help, ask. 99% of the time your question will get answered.

Now, if you're trying to build applications such as Chris Seahorn's HTML Editor or Blog Admin you're going to need a lot more knowledge. Don't sweat it. I'm not there yet either but by downloading his application and going through all of the code I'm starting to see what does what and where things go. I'm willing to bet that you can too.

See you in the forums.

LOL , looks like we were all posting at the same time...

I appreciate the info...Thanks! :thumbsup: