Customer Reviews

Advanced Ajax: Architecture and Best Practices

5 star:		(2)
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3 star:		(1)
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"Advanced AJAX" is targeted towards AJAX application architects. Note that readers should be comfortable learning by reading code. For example, chapter 1 has two pages of code for a GUI widget. This seems heavy for a conceptual book. Elsewhere, the main idea got lost in six pages of view code.

I liked the non-technology specific sections. Browser tools included Safari and Opera plugins. All the "hot" security topics were covered (SQL injection, XSS, CSRF.) Tradeoffs were listed for different alternatives. Performance included CPU, memory and bandwidth. Trying out examples on the companion website was nice.

Many server side techniques were PHP specific, such as SQL injection. While six pages of code is good for PHP developers, I was surprised. The code was readable without being fluent in PHP, but unnecessarily narrows the audience. The 15 pages of screenshots/description on the PHP documentation tool could have been used for another topic. Wouldn't a PHP developer already know how to use PHP?

While I liked the presence of an accessibility chapter, I found it confusing. WCAG and Section 508 were introduced clearly early in the chapter. For the rest of the chapter, I wasn't clear on what pertained to WCAG, what was 508 complaint and what was coming in the future.

If you are a hands on PHP AJAX developer interested in architecture, this is an excellent book. Non-PHP developers or people who want to focus on architecture (rather than code) are better off with a different book.

This book is a rarity--a sort of architectural cookbook. The author takes a very careful, calculated approach to a topic that has become a buzzword--lending itself to gross overuse just for the sake of doing so.

The running thoughts throughout this book are to keep AJAX design unobtrusive, accessible (has a very good Section 508 introduction), segmented/modular, and easily maintainable. It even has a single chapter dedicated to security that was more useful than an entire book I read on the subject.

I highly recommend this for any developer working with JavaScript, AJAX, or Silverlight. Even with its PHP/MySQL flavor, the philosophies and practices the author shares are applicable to any platform, and they are dead on--simply the right way to design and implement AJAX solutions.

College-level and advanced computer holdings catering to Ajax developers and web programmers will find here an excellent guide to building business-quality web sites, covering the design and development issues associated with Ajax and offering patterns and code examples unavailable elsewhere. From planning Ajax interfaces for clear and smooth functions to using the best tools to debug code and achieve maximum security, ADVANCED AJAX covers many topics beginning books won't, and provides web programmers with a vast range of customization resources.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch