ActionScript + Flash books/recommendations/questions

So I work for a fairly large Company and I just got hired out of College as a Firmware Developer/Tester (I do both testing and writing the test apps+other apps for the large business centric printers) Anyways recently they had used Java for all the apps on the printers touchscreens etc....but they are now moving towards Actionscript and Flash (why? I dont know).

Anyways What benefits does actionscript provide over say Javascript..i've never really used AS before and barely any javascript, im not super familiar with ECMAScript languages. So what exactly is the difference? Is one more used for Multimedia purposes (assumingly actionscript.....since that is flash's native language correct?) and one more for 开发者_如何学Cweb?

Would you ever want to use the other for the other and vice versa? I ask because I havent really heard much about actionscript in recent years....im wondering if it's even still used much anymore (i know....with the whole html5 vs flash wars)

With that being said any recommended books for using actionscript+flash together?

Thanks

it'll be easier for you to go with Actionscript 3 as its class structure and language features make OOP a natural fit. You can do OOP design in Javascript but it involves workarounds. Javascript is prototype-based.

I am a big fan of Keith Peters' "Foundation Actionscript Animation: Making Things Move".

A good start would be "Learning Actionscript 3.0: A Beginners Guide"

http://www.learningactionscript3.com/

In short Flash for the front end and java for the back end. (that is a fairly bland statement I know.)

I use ActionScript extensively for prototyping. You can prototype insanely fast in AS3 and since it is an OOP language and very readable it makes for nice pseudo code when I begin writing the actual project in C++ etc.

If you have a decent foundation in OOP and understand the concepts you will have no problem picking up AS3 and if you are familiar with OOP there is only one book you will need to get a seriously firm grasp on the language.

Essential ActionScript 3.0 - O'Reilly - ISBN-10: 0-596-52694-6

It is the only book I have ever read on AS3.

Hope that helps.

I would recommend @Jordan's response of

http://www.learningactionscript3.com/

However, I also recommend

Actionscript 3.0 Design Patterns

Essential Actionscript 3.0