AJAX: Creating Web Pages with Asynchronous JavaScript and XML

Book Rank: 2 [ javascript]
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1 edition (August 18, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0132272679
ISBN-13: 978-0132272674
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches







Using Ajax, you can build Web applications with the sophistication and usability of traditional desktop applications and you can do it using standards and open source software. Now, for the first time, there's an easy, example-driven guide to Ajax for every Web and open source developer, regardless of experience.
Edmond Woychowsky begins with simple techniques involving only HTML and basic JavaScript. Then, one step at a time, he introduces techniques for building increasingly rich applications. Don't worry if you're not an expert on Ajax's underlying technologies; Woychowsky offers refreshers on them, from JavaScript to the XMLHttpRequest object. You'll also find multiple open source technologies and open standards throughout, ranging from Firefox to Ruby and MySQL.
You'll not only learn how to write "functional" code, but also master design patterns for writing rocksolid, high-performance Ajax applications. You'll also learn how to use frameworks such as Ruby on Rails to get the job done fast.

Learn how Ajax works, how it evolved, and what it's good for
Understand the flow of processing in Ajax applications
Build Ajax applications with XML and the XMLHttpRequest object
Integrate back-end code, from PHP to C#
Use XSLT and XPath, including XPath Axis
Develop client-side Ajax libraries to support code reuse
Streamline development with Ruby on Rails and the Ruby programming language
Use the cross-browser HTML DOM to update parts of a page
Discover the best Ajax Web resources, including Ajax-capable JavaScript libraries

The book goes through the syntax of Ajax. Which essentially is the syntax of JavaScript itself. Ajax does not really invent a new language. Its innovation comes in how it lets you combine existing approaches in a novel manner. This means that you might consider this book as an advanced text on JavaScript, and how to combine it with using HTML and XML. External to this book, there is a feeling on the Web that Ajax is really a clever marketing of JavaScript.

In any event, the methods described in the book should be easy to an experienced programmer. Especially if you have had any background in even minimally using JavaScript and HTML. The most intricate parts of the book relate to using XPath and XSLT. These have been around for several years. But prior to Ajax, their uptake seems to have been minimal. Perhaps due to their complexity. With Ajax, there is now a prospect that XPath and XSLT might actually see greater use. The author has correctly included them in the book, for completeness. However, if you are new to Ajax, I'd suggest avoiding these chapters on a first pass.

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