Book Review: Build Your Own AJAX Web Applications

Very often technology arrives a good few years before it finds real applicability. WAP was a standing example. But there are certain technologies which are noticed only after waking ourselves up to the wide range of applications already incorporating them. AJAX is one such. With User experience starting to play a large role in market success, AJAX is fast becoming the way for web applications to render sophisticated user experience, as well as retain all the benefits of classic web applications.

Build Your Own AJAX Web Applications by Matthew Eernisse, shows you how to accomplish that, and more, in a very developer friendly manner. The book begins with an overview which gives a historical background on how AJAX came into being view. It also notes a very vital facet that Ajax is not a new innovation but a better and easier way of doing things which required awkward hacks in the pre-AJAX days - the bad old days, as Matthew puts it.

The book is written with a fair assumption that the reader is already familiar with JavaScript and CSS, but does make it a point to keep both novice and experienced developers in mind. The progression of the various chapters begins with HelloWorld type simple applications that would ensure the developer becomes familiar with the constructs and nomenclature of the AJAX-era, and ends with a complex game of Chess that is sure to raise the antennas of experienced developers.

Any modern technology is at its most powerful when combined with Web Services. The most interesting part of the book is when Matthew describes how to access Web Services like the Google APIs, Amazon and eBay through very simple code. This would be an important reference chapter for any web developer working on eCommerce sites.

Every technology comes with its own drawbacks and bottlenecks. So much as AJAX does. As there would not be any postback to the web server in the AJAX-world, the Back button of your browser is rendered useless. But for a naïve user this could be a nuisance. Matthew provides us some nifty ways to make the Back button behave in a way that retains the flexibility of classic web application in this no-postback world. Such tips and tricks which are interspersed all over the book is another exciting feature every developer would fathom.

Whether you are new to AJAX, or an experienced JavaScript developer, the book has a load of information, tips, common caveats, guidelines which covers a wide spectrum of technologies including Web Services, XML-RPC, JSON standards and also the classic Web applications, and embraces all the best practices to be followed in developing such applications. The complete code in the book is also available for download, so you can be hands-on even as you go reading the book.

An AJAX programmer's reference or a sequential reader to learn the AJAX way of programming - whichever path you want to take, Build Your Own AJAX Web Applications is an able companion.