I am working on a list of resources that I would like to give to people
that are migrating to flash from other languages. We have just hired a
couple people that are CS graduates and others that have been in the
java world for the last ten years. Any feedback on what you would want
your new hires to review?
We have several good books that will get you started in comprehending
flash.
Books:
Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Hands-On Training
You have to start somewhere
Action Script for Flash MX
aka the bible
Flash Communication Server
Wonderful overview of the technology
Extending Flash MX 2004
Automating the flash programming environment
(still waiting for a good flash remoting book)
Weekly websites to review and bookmark:
http://osflash.org/
http://www.actionscript.com/
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mxna/
Mailing lists:
FlashCoders:: Salvation for flash developers. Please don’t ask dumb
questions on this list
http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
OSFLASH
http://osflash.org/mailman/listinfo/osflash_osflash.org
Extending Flash
http://www.flashguru.co.uk/extending-flash-mailing-list/
Flash Documentation:
This is the online version of what is already in your help files
inside of flash.
http://www.macromedia.com/livedocs/flash/mx2004/
Flash Technologies that we use:
Read and understand all Actionscript 2.0 documentation.
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/actionscript.html
Read and understand all of the version 2 component information.
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/components.html
The Macromedia component Architecture.
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/flash/articles/
component_architecture_03.html
Flash Remoting: This link is also included in your help files.
http://livedocs.macromedia.com/flashremoting/mx2004/
actionscript_api_reference/frameset.html
Links to remoting examples:
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/flashremoting/
Example Applications to learn from others~!
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/sample_apps.html
http://www.sephiroth.it/download.php
Software Development:
All software is designed first so you need to understand basic UML
concepts. If you have not worked with UML it would be good to research
UML on the web and start learning it as it is expect that you
understand how to mark up a UML document and translate UML to code.
http://www.actionscript.com/index.php/fw/1/an-introduction-to-uml-key-
concepts-applied-to-flash-development/
Design Patterns. You will find that we use many design patterns here.
We ask ourselves “why”, If we find ourselves not using a pattern.
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/mv_controller.html
http://www.moock.org/lectures/introToPatterns/
http://java.sun.com/blueprints/patterns/
Requirments Gather. We use the Volere templates for all internal and
client work. It will be good for you to understand these concepts and
read through all the material. Your first programming assignment will
come in this format.
http://www.systemsguild.com/GuildSite/Robs/Template.html
Application development in groups is almost impossible without unit
testing. Flash has a direct port of Junit in actionscrupt.
http://www.asunit.org/
We love SubVersion and you will too! Please read up on subversion and
how it works. Please read the tortoisesvn manual.
http://tortoisesvn.sourceforge.net/docs/release/TortoiseSVN_en/help-
onepage.html
The world needs XML. We just don’t need to know how to parse it. The
world of XPATH is your friend. XPATH is like regular expressions for
xml. Review these documents before starting any XML project.
What is Xpath:
http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath
xfactorstudio: third party Xpath Classes
http://www.xfactorstudio.com/ActionScript/AS2/XPath/
Example:
http://www.sephiroth.it/file_detail.php?id=130
XPATH Explorer: writes the Xpath expression for you!!!!
http://www.purpletech.com/xpe/
Xray (The AdminTool) is a “snapshot viewer” of the current state of
your Flash application without impacting the performance or the file
size of your application.
http://osflash.org/xray
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