J. Scott Hamlin and Jennifer S. Hall authored Flash MX ActionScript: The Designer’s Edge from Sybex.
Being a programming dunce, I gotta tell you that I really appreciated this book! It helped me understand the fundamentals while still offering up advanced techniques.
There is no CD with this book, but all the files used in the exercises can be downloaded from the Web. As with other such books providing exercise files, there is a partially completed file for you to work the exercises, as well as a completed file so you can see where you are headed with the scripts.
The book is a model of good writing, with clear directions and instructions, full color graphics that clarify and support the information and plenty of helpful aids.
The book contains 11 chapters, covering topics such as cursor interactions, coded animation techniques, ActionScript trigonometry and game building. The chapter on Flash Components teaches you how to customize the built in Flash components such as buttons and check boxes to create your own look. There is a chapter on capturing user input from text fields that shows you how to create and use arrays.
Overall, an outstanding book.