I don't know Antonio De Donatis, but I wish I did.

As a Corporate Trainer of Internet Technologies for the past 10 years, I am always looking for well written and logically presented material for use in the classroom. ActionScript Components by Antonio De Donatis is one of the best I have ever seen in the ActionScript genre. On second thought, this is one of the best technical books I have ever seen, and I own hundreds.

My background is in XML, VoiceXML and Internet Technologies. I found this book on the friendsOfEd site, read the chapter on using XML and was astounded at the clarity and depth of knowledge. De Donatis is someone who knows his subject and knows how to impart information to his readers. I went to the local bookstore to see if the rest of the book could sustain that level of writing. The short answer: yes it does.

From explaining in layman terms how Object Oriented Programming works through delving into the creation and use of components, De Donatis knows his stuff. But better than that, he doesn't hide behind a bunch of geek speak. More than anything else, I kept saying to myself "That explanation is so clear, I wish I had written it myself."

Five star rating, highest there is, with no hesitation.

As a java coder who has recently been writing Flash/Flex for rich database-driven UI products, this book has been a huge help. My understanding of the best way to use inheritance and the component architecture has improved a ton with this book. And the section on skinning has helped alot since the UI guys just give me pretty mockups, and then i need to actually make them look and work that way.

Well written and I really like the incremental approach he takes in teaching you the material with examples that you change bit by bit as you go.

Highly recommended.