Foundations of Ajax
Author: Ryan AslesonNathaniel T. Schutta
Overview of Book:
Foundations of Ajax is written to give you, the developer, all the tools you need to add Ajaxtechniques to your existing or future applications. Our motto while writing this book was,“Everything you need to know; nothing you don’t.” We assume that as a reader of this bookyou are already an experienced Web application developer. Because of this, we focus on thetopics that are most likely new to you: Ajax and its associated tools and techniques.We don’tspend much time talking about server-side languages because we assume you will developserver-side functionality using the toolset of your choice and that you don’t need our helpxixdoing it. We don’t spend time talking about how to build enterprise-scale applications that justhappen to use Ajax. Instead, we focus solely on Ajax and its related tools and techniques.
The examples in this book are deliberately small and tightly focused. They demonstrateone or two important Ajax concepts as succinctly as possible. We assume that as an experiencedWeb developer you can extrapolate the demonstrated topic into your own environment;thus, we avoid cluttering the examples with information that is of little use to you.
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Chapter 1 discusses the themes of Web application development from the past, present,and future. It’s easier to see where development techniques are going once you know wherethey have been.
Chapter 2 introduces the XMLHttpRequest object. This is the Ajax concept with which you’relikely the least familiar, so we dedicate an entire chapter to explaining the XMLHttpRequestobject’s properties and methods. If you’re like us, you may not have even been aware of theXMLHttpRequest object until recently, despite that it has been available in Internet Explorer forseveral years. Therefore, we’ll take the time to properly discuss this object and what it can do.
Chapter 3 starts to get into the meat of Ajax. This chapter discusses the various ways inwhich the XMLHttpRequest object can communicate with the server. We discuss using XML,plain text, and even JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) as the transport medium and discussthe various ways in which you use them in conjunction with the XMLHttpRequest object. Bythe end of this chapter, you’ll be comfortable using the XMLHttpRequest object to communicatewith the server without forcing the user to suffer through a complete page refresh.Too often we, as developers, spend time learning how to use a new technology or techniquewithout learning about how to apply it.
Chapter 4 solves this problem by demonstrating a numberof scenarios in which you can use Ajax techniques. As promised, each example is small andfocused, enabling you to better understand the topic without having to wade through copiousamounts of unnecessary information.Chapters 5, 6, and 7 are worth their weight in gold to the new Ajax developer. We don’twant you to start enhancing your applications with Ajax without being equipped with theproper tools and techniques to do so. Chapter 5 introduces several tools and techniques thatyou can use to ease the development of Web applications. The tools and techniques describedin
Chapter 5 will help you produce code that is higher in quality, adheres to industry standards,and is easier to maintain in the future.Test-driven development (TDD) is changing the way we develop applications. By writingunit tests before you write any code, you can ensure that the code you write is workingas expected, greatly increasing the quality of your code. A suite of unit tests also makesfuture changes easier by ensuring that all code still works as expected after changes aremade. There’s no reason to exclude Ajax from TDD, and since the benefits of TDD cannotbe overstated, we dedicate an entire chapter to it. Since Ajax is primarily a browser-basedtechnology,
Chapter 6 demonstrates how to apply TDD to your JavaScript code.Speaking of JavaScript, if you’re going to use Ajax, you’re going to have to write at leastsome JavaScript. Many developers have shied away from JavaScript, claiming it lacks importantproductivity tools such as debuggers to be truly useful. That is no longer true.
Chapter 7 discusses tools and techniques you can use to track down problems when they arise and solvethem as quickly and easily as possible. No longer must you avoid JavaScript with the fear thatyou won’t be able to diagnose problems when they arise.
Ajax is a rapidly evolving technology that has grown exponentially during the time wewere writing this book.
Chapter 8 ties everything together by discussing emerging Ajax developmentpatterns, frameworks, and online resources. Also, the complete example in Chapter 8xx n INTRODUCTION shows some advanced Ajax techniques and demonstrates how easy Ajax development can bewhen using a prebuilt Ajax framework. Using a framework shields you from some of the moremundane tasks of Ajax development, allowing you to focus more on business logic than on thenuances of Ajax.
To cap it all off, Appendix A outlines some quirks and inconsistencies that exist within theW3C DOM and JavaScript implementations that exist across browsers, and ways to overcomethese issues. Appendix B summarizes some of the most popular Ajax frameworks and librariesthat are available to simplify the adoption of Ajax techniques. The number of frameworks issure to grow as Ajax becomes more popluar, so stay on the lookout for emerging frameworksand other development tools.
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