So I’m in a bit of a sticky situation. I’m currently studying interactive multimedia where my institute still teaches AS2 and won’t be upgrading for the next year or so…So if I learned AS2, how easy would it be to learn AS3? Is it an easy transition? Are there others with the same predicament? Thanks!
Chris
In AS3 there is different event model, display approach and all class based (not prototype).
I think that AS2 would only bring bad habits to AS3
yeah, AS3 is a completely different beast… but once you know the concept of how Flash works, it shouldn’t be too hard.
Honestly, unless you learn AS2 at a pretty advanced level, you’ll just be confused when transitioning to AS3. :-/
I’d say it depends on how good of a programmer you are. If you’ve had classes in c and java then learning AS3 from AS2 will be a big relief because you will have much stronger type checking and a more programmer friendly API structure. It would be easy to drop the bad habits because youd just be reverting to how you normally program.
But, if your a novice programmer you’ll just pick up bad habits, and I wouldn’t recommend it.
I taught myself AS2 and picked up some really bad habits. Then I started learning java and c in much more depth and learned good habits. Then later when AS3 came out I loved it and picked it up immediately thanks to my java and c experience.
I recommend you to not confuse yourself with AS2 concepts… if you can.
Maybe it would be interesting to learn both at the same time, and see the differences. That may help you to understand the subject better in the long run.
As for learning I think this is the best book for beginners:
Afterwards you can start approaching the AS3 bible which is made by hard coders for hard coders:
With those 2 books you have enough material to keep you occupied a very long time
Also Felix, prototype is AS1, there’s no reason to use it at all in AS2. AS2 has proper classes.
Though AS3’s class system seems much better.
What the others said is true though, AS3 seems more geared towards people with a development background, and OOP experience from languages like C++ and Java.
Unfortunately for me, I learnt to program in AS1, so AS3 is fairly overwhelming 
AC3 intuitive comprehensible, mega good lead away teach.
I’d say go with AS2 for now. A lot of the learning is just becoming familiar with the APIs. And though certain behaviors and syntax has changed with AS3, much of the API is the same and an AS2 background will help you get acclimated. Some things will require some mental re-wiring though, such as events and to a greater extent interaction with visual (display) objects (or movie clips). But with that in mind, AS2 is a great place to get started.
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