Lingo in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference

By Bruce Epstein

Macromedia Director 6 is the premiere authoring tool for delivering interactive content on both the Internet and the desktop. It is the dominant multimedia package for Windows 95/NT, Windows 3.1, and the Macintosh. A quarter million developers use Director(R) to incorporate animation and audio into dynamic Web pages, and to create engaging interactive corporate presentations, multimedia advertising, entertainment CD-ROMs, Enhanced music CDs, and even DVDs. Lingo is Director's powerful scripting language. This companion book to Director in a Nutshell is an essential tool for both new and experienced Lingo programmers seeking a deeper knowledge of the language. Bruce Epstein is the author of both these books and brings years of hands-on experience with Director and Lingo. The book includes numerous useful Lingo examples. Exhaustively tested, this book corrects many errors found in Macromedia's Lingo documentation and repeated verbatim in most third-party books. Extremely comprehensive, this book details dozens of misdocumented and undocumented Lingo keywords that are omitted from Macromedia's manuals and third-party books. Lingo in a Nutshell caters to the huge pool of Director users attempting to bridge the Lingo gap, yet provides the details for the experienced Linguist that are lacking in other Lingo books. In typical nutshell style (clear, concise, deep and narrow) this book explores the syntax, structure and commands of the Lingo language. The detailed chapters describe messages, events, scripts, handlers, variables, lists, file I/O, Behaviors, child objects, Xtras, and more. This book teaches you to troubleshoot and debug common Lingo errors. Lingo in a Nutshell is the book for which both Director users and power Lingo programmers have been yearning. The book extensively covers topics not found in other Lingo books: Cross-platform Lingo differences Lingo internals for experienced programmers Events, messages, and scripts Timers, tempos, cue points, and synchronization Data types and expressions Math, numerical expressions, geometry, and trigonometry Coordinates, alignment, and registration point Lingo in a Nutshell is the most concise and compete guide available. It is a high-end handbook at a low-end price. An essential desktop reference for every Director user.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565924932
• ISBN13: 9781565924932
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 631 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Great, but not up to date!

This book is a valuable reference, but before you buy it, PLEASE take note of the fact that it was published two years ago and Director has undergone two upgrades since then. This book won't teach you about any of the new Lingo introduced in Director 7 and 8.

The Best Lingo Resource

I had gained more insigt into lingo by the end of the first chapter of this book than I had by the time I finished the three others I had bought before, if you need to do lingo, this is a one stop book, no need go anywhere else. What really makes this book even better than the already well writen and defined resource that it is, if you have a questions, the author will actually help you answer them, and all this for half the price of most books. if there is a better deal out there I havent found it. THIS IS THE BOOK.

Intelligent insight on Object Orientated Lingo Programming

I have tried all the other books on Director & Lingo and only this book dares and succeeds to actually cover real programming in Lingo. For all the real programmers out there read this book and the secrets of Lingo will be opend up to you. As for Macromedia I would pay Bruce Epstein as much money as he wants for the rights to these books and then you should ship them with Director as your manuals are a insult to the power of Director and especially Lingo. If Macromedia truly wants people to use Director to the full then only this book will show them how to do it !

Simply the best resource going.

"Lingo in a Nutshell" and its companion book "Director in a Nutshell" are an incredible source and wealth of valuable information. If you have learned some of the fundamentals of Director and wish to expand your horizons, these books are a must have. I always recommend these books as must read to my students here at the Vancouver Film School - New Media Campus. The fact that it covers Lingo only to Director 6.5 should be of no hindrance. It all still applies and is 100% relevant to Director 7. If you want to get the best out of your Lingo, BUY THIS BOOK. Excellent job Bruce and Thanks!

the book of books

As a C++ programmer, I thought "Director? Lingo? UUUHHHH! just another primitive script language." After working with Director for 2 years Bruce's book showed me that Lingo is not just another primitive dumb script language. This book ( i own about ten books about Director and Lingo + the oringinal documentation) showed me hidden features of the language, I never thought that they even existed.Full score, Bruce. By the way: this should not be the first book you ever read about director.