I am new to Flex and AS but experience Java Developer. I found this book easy to understand Flex & AS but also gave little confidence to move forward with Flex project. Only negative part is example not complete with source code (not provided for certain chapters) overall easy to understand not bad

The guy who wrote this book took a more personal approach to teaching Flex, which makes it a really easy read. It's real easy to follow along and do all the excer

Let me quote Mr. Brown from the introduction in this book.

"After years of doing technical training, where I have only a few days to cover large topics, I have learned to substitute shorter explanations that clarify a concept in place or larger more technical (and often confusing) explanations." - Charles E. Brown

The author gets straight point with more code and less explanations. I've read many technical books and this book is by far the clearest and quickest reading. The steps you take are numbered, which makes taking notes easier and is followed up with a less than equal amount of talking. He covers a lot of ground with less chatter. This book is perfect for laying on your lap or taking anywhere. There are also no errors in code and only 2 typos presented on the Friends of Ed's website. I wish all books where written like Mr. Brown's style.

This is the only "unfinished" computer training book I have ever purchased, and it will hopefully be the last. It stops abruptly at chapter 15, titled "Unfinished Symphony", where the author informs the reader that "I am finishing this book by not finishing it." Believe it or not, this is a completely accurate statement.

The major exercise that he had walked the reader through for most of the book, building a a book store application, is left unfinished. Many important topics, that we are told would be covered in later chapters are never presented. The author himself acknowledges that his editors told him to include more information, but his reply to his editors, and to the reader, is, "If I were to attempt to discuss all relevant topics, the book would never get out the gate."

We are told that the material that he left out of the book will available on his website (charlesebrown dot net). It's not there yet. Just like his book, his website fails to deliver.

If the unfinished nature of the book were the only problem, it would have been bad enough. But there are also many errata. Indeed, searching for and fixing the errors in the author's code may be among the most educational aspects of this book. Finally, the author's explanations are weak and often confusing. He seems to be aware of this problem, and you will often encounter phrases such as "If you are a bit confused as to why you did this yet, don't worry... it is about to get very clear." It never does.

After reading this book and following along with the example, I feel like I have some good idea of Flex, but not enough. It was really easy to follow (minus errors that others mentioned).