What is AJAX?

I've seen many new technologies or aliases of come about in the last few years. Much of the technology is still foreign to me because I will never directly be able to utilize it as I am a useless programmer. However, for outsourced projects that may some day require fancy functions or bells and whistles, I should at least gain a basic insight as to what is out there, what is hot, what does what, etc so I can make decisions about what I want....... so to start,,,,,,,, I want to know what the heck is "AJAX"!?

A quick conclusion from my research shows that the main function of "AJAX" is interactivity behind the scenes / code at the server level performing actions or queries etc then returning the results without having to refresh the page. Makes sense. The result is an increase in a web page's interactivity, speed, and usability.

Ajax (programming)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ajax, shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the web page's interactivity, speed, and usability.

The Ajax technique uses a combination of:

• XHTML (or HTML) and CSS, for marking up and styling information.
• The DOM accessed with a client-side scripting language, especially ECMAScript implementations such as JavaScript and JScript, to dynamically display and interact with the information presented.
• The XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data asynchronously with the web server. In some Ajax frameworks and in certain situations, an IFrame object is used instead of the XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data with the web server.
• XML is sometimes used as the format for transferring data between the server and client, although any format will work, including preformatted HTML, plain text, JSON and even EBML. These files will be created dynamically by some for of Server-side scripting.

Like DHTML, LAMP and SPA, Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a term that refers to the use of a group of technologies together.

Who is using AJAX?

Oh,,,, Google, Amazon's A9 network, Flickr.com, Ask.com, Yahoo.com, MSN Spaces, and many more top websites / networks are utilizing AJAX.

AJAX Q&A - AJAX FAQ:

See the original article which coined the term; "Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications" by Jesse James Garret " http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php

AJAX Resources:

• Adaptive Path - AJAX: A New Approach to Web Applications - Seminal article which popularized "AJAX" as a term.
• Ajax - Ajax, ColdFusion, Seo
• Ajax - Asynchronous JavaScript and XML - Ajax community website portal
• AJAX by Mozilla Developer Center - A comprehensive guide on getting started with AJAX including articles, tutorials and links to other useful websites.
• AJAX Cross-browser Implementation - A guide to implementing cross-browser AJAX websites using Sarissa library.
• Ajax GWT tips - Website about Google's GWT for writing Ajax-based applications, including demo's and source.
• Ajax Impact - A directory cum informational site on Ajax. It contains Ajax News, Articles, Tutorials, Tool Kits, Sites Using Ajax, Ajax Demos etc. Overall its good resource for Ajax developer.
• Ajax Lessons - Resource for ajax tutorials as well as information surrounding Ajax and web 2.0.
• AJAX Magazine - Your reference for AJAX, Asynchronous Javascript and XML, with news, articles, tutorials, implementations and much more.
• AJAX Matters - An informational site providing Asynchronous JavaScript and XML development information including code libraries, sites using ajax, and books on ajax.
• AJAX News Aggregator - xmlhttprequest.com - xmlhttprequest.com is an AJAX, xmlhttprequest, dhtml, css, web2.0 javascript news aggregator that extracts the best stories from the most popular web sites.
• AJAX overview with vote example - This page contains an overview of AJAX with several vote examples. The code used is described.
• Ajax Patterns - A wiki with principles, gotchas, frameworks, and common techniques. Also the homepage for the "Ajax Design Patterns" book.
• Ajax Rich Internet Applications - Site devoted to build Rich Internet Applications using Ajax.
• Ajax Training - In this Ajax training course, students learn to make calls to the server with JavaScript and to manipulate XML content returned from the server.
• Ajax Training Course by Marakana - Ajax Training Course explains how to distribute the application between the client and the server by using the nested MVC design pattern. You will learn how to make your application to be flexible and maintainable.
• Ajax Tutorial - Ajax programming tutorials for newbies
• AJAX: Usable Interactivity with Remote Scripting - Tutorial article about AJAX, including a discussion about usability.
• AjaxApp.com - A forum-site for the discussion of interactive web-based application development based on Open Source Technology such as PHP, J2EE, DHTML & AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML)technology
• Ajaxium - AJAX for ASP.NET - Makes ASP.NET pages and all controls AJAX-enabled but leaves them accessible to all search engines and old browsers.
• Ajax.NET - The free library for .NET (C#) - Documentation and downloads for an AJAX library that uses .NET for the backend.
• Ajax.NET Professional Library - Ajax.NET Professional is the first available .NET AJAX framework. As it is working with .NET 1.1 and 2.0 and with all common web browsers including mobile devices it is one of the greatest libraries available.
• Ajaxtalk technology forums - AJAX forum
• Aspects of AJAX - Aspects of AJAX is a platform and engine for developing responsive and interactive web applications by using and extending the browser platforms to a Rich Client System.
• Atlas - AJAX Implementation By Microsoft - Atlas for ASP.NET is the implementation of AJAX technology introduced by Microsoft.
• Dajax - an ajax framework, provides a set of simple interfaces for creating web UI components and rich internet application.
• Direct Web Remoting - DWR - A Java open source library which helps developers wanting to write web sites that include AJAX technology.
• Dojo::doc - Dojotoomkit resources and news
• Dynamic HTML and XML: The XMLHttpRequest Object - Introduction and documentation from Apple Developer Connection.
• Google AJAXSLT - Google's AJAXSLT is an implementation of XSL-T in JavaScript for AJAX applications. Includes links for downloading.
• Guide to Using XMLHttpRequest (with Baby Steps) from WebPasties - Detailed tutorial that explains how to creating an AJAX ZIP code database including a PHP/MySQL backend.
• JSLog: a lightweight Ajax logging tool - This site contains tools and methodologies for easier Ajax programming. JSLog is an Ajax logging/error reporting tool. This site also includes best practices for Ajax error handling and guidelines for "productionizing" Ajax code using the JSLog logging mechanism.
• KFM - Kae's File Manager - An Ajax file manager for PHP, which may be used stand-alone, or as a plugin for a rich text editor.
• linb framework and project info - LINB javascript framework, lazy binding event system, Drag Drop, Chainable Methods, advance Ajax, perfect OO model, and no memory leak.
• Majax - My AJAX - Very small and simple client-side (browser only) library to make AJAX-style requests.
• ONLamp.com: Ajax on Rails - Curt Hibbs demonstrates the use of Ajax within Ruby on Rails applications.
• Prototype JavaScript Framework - Provides class-style OO and Ajax, freely distributable under the terms of an MIT-style license.
• Rialto - Rich Internet Application Toolkit - Rialto is a cross browser javascript widgets library. Because it is technology agnostic it can be encapsulated in JSP, JSF, .Net or PHP graphic components.
• SAJA - Secure AJAX for PHP - A lightweight AJAX framework for PHP allowing encrypted data to be trasmitted over non-encrypted channels.
• SAJAX - Simple Ajax Toolkit by ModernMethod - An open source XMLHTTPRequest toolkit with PHP, Perl, and Python backends.
• Script.aculo.us - A collection of Web 2.0 style JavaScript libraries that help web developers add AJAX functionally to projects.
• Sote Design using prototype - The Web 2.0 style website designing using Prototype Javascript framework
• XMLHttpRequest and AJAX Applications - Fiftyfoureleven.com - A blog with code snippets and proofs of concept.
• The XMLHttpRequest object - Specification by W3C, of the base of AJAX.
• Zimbra™ AjaxTk - Zimbra Ajax Toolkit