[4.1] Books

A couple of books relating to Director 3.1 were in print until fairly recently, but no longer seem to be generally available, and will be thoroughly out of date for most purposes. Make sure you check the version used before buying any Director-related books.

Most of the books I've seen are written primarily with the beginner in mind. "Lingo Workshop", co-written by the inventor of Lingo, gives the fullest attention to Lingo programming, up to and including such potential trouble-spots as lists and parent/child scripts. "Director Demystified" combines a fair amount of Lingo info with a comprehensive examination of Director's other elements. "Learning Lingo", as the name suggests, is specifically about Lingo, and covers most of the basics pretty well, but it doesn't go as far as "Lingo Workshop" and is let down by some pretty lame examples and a buggy CD. The sample code is also uncommented, which is a really bad thing at any time, but especially deplorable in an educational product. For the rest, the scripting sections tend to concentrate on the more basic structures, such as simple mouseUp scripts and gotos, with the bulk of the material dedicated to the workings of the Director environment itself (cast, score, stage and so on). In general, these books offer a sensible overview of the Director environment along with how-tos for many of the basic things you need to do every day. If you find the whole app confusing or just want a different slant on things from the manuals, almost any of them will probably help. If you are fairly happy working within Director, you may pick up all sorts of small insights and tips, but nothing earth-shattering. [I hope to have individual reviews of at least some of these books in a future version of the FAQ...]