Customer Reviews

Ajax: The Definitive Guide

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

While "Ajax: The Definitive Guide" is certainly exhaustive, it's hard to have confidence in a text so riddled with errors. Other O'Reilly titles I've purchased in the last few years suffer from the same problem: very poor copy editing. In a "Definitive Guide," this is inexcusable.

Furthermore, he author's decision to rely on the Prototype framework is misguided. It saves a few lines of code per page, but one expects a "Definitive Guide" to define, explore, and use the actual objects and methods defined by the language itself, not those defined in one of many, many external libraries.

It is also somewhat comical to read on page 10 that developers, rather than browser vendors, "are to blame for not adopting standards" and that they are "stuck with the mentality of the 1990s, when browser quirks mode, coding hacks, and other tricks were the only things that allowed code to work in all environments," and then to read on page 191 that "Yes, there are always caveats in the world of standards compliance" and that "Example 7-2 will not work in Internet Explorer because Internet Explorer does not support the CSS2 rules that are used to make this work." And on page 187 that "Internet Explorer does not natively support :hover on elements other than <a>. For this reason, instead of using the CSS that will work for all other browsers, we must use this...."

(It's hard not to laugh, too, at a sentence that begins with "To take the file menu example fully to the Web 2.0 level....")

By the time all the errata are corrected and a second edition issued, it might be appropriate for the author to wag his finger at developers who can't yet afford to to be totally standards-pure, but by then the faddish jargon will seem very dated.

And until O'Reilly starts employing copy editors, I'm not buying the first edition of any title they release.

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There is a LOT of code in this 950 page book. I guess there is something here for everyone because there is code not directly related to Ajax but is directed to HTML structure or CSS presentational aspects or to frameworks that may include Ajax conveniences.

In fact, the amount of code may interfere with the author's object of appealing to two very different types of people with this book: Web developers and project managers looking for a high-level view. Except for some intro chapters and the odd breather between 10-15 page code listings, I don't think any project managers *I* have worked with would extract much from the book.

The book has 4 sections:
Part 1 - Ajax Fundamentals: the basic technologies that could form the core of a typical Ajax application.

Part 2 - Ajax Foundations: approaches to standards-compliant structure, separation of the presentational layer and client-side behaviors. Code code code!

Part 3 - Ajax in Applications: describes the specific implementations of these technologies into Web applications. More code!

Part 4 - Wrapping Up: tips on optimization.

In addition, there are some reference appendices on XML and XSLT; on JavaScript frameworks; on Ajax implementation risks; and most interestingly, a catalog of freely available Web service APIs.

One thing I did not like about the code listings was the use of Prototype style $() function syntax. This means when I see something like:
var titleText = $('title').firstChild;
I had to check whether .firstChild was a reference to a Prototype object or a reference to the standard DOM object. If the standard object, it would have been a whole lot clear just to have written document.getElementById().

The book index is actually pretty good. With 950 pages stuffed with content, you will probably be thankful for that!
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Let me preface this review by saying that I have never been a fan of thick programming or computer books. If a book is 2 inches thick, I often find only 1/2 to 1 inch of it to be valuable. However, most of Ajax: The Definitive Guide seems to hit the mark. Since Ajax development is such an expansive, and rapidly changing, topic, it is perhaps a good idea to shoot for too much rather than too little information. Most developers will find this book not only a good learning guide, but also a handy reference for a wide variety of coding needs.

One thing you will notice when scanning through this book is that there is a *lot* of code. The author is not afraid to publish pages and pages of Ajax code for readers to consider, copy and hack up to create their own applications. Not all is useful in real-world applications, however, since some of it is not cross-browser compatible (most often failing in Internet Explorer).

The first three chapters are largely an introduction to Web technologies, and can be skipped by most developers. In Chapter 4, the author introduces the XMLHttpRequest object, the object that puts the "asynchronous" in Ajax (an acronym for "asynchronous JavaScript and XML"). He details how to make simple applications that pull information from server-based XML or JSON, an alternative data format well suited to Ajax. Chapter 5 deals with Document Object Model programming, a critical task that allows developers to change the look and content of Web pages that have already been rendered.

After these foundational concepts, Part 2 contains nine chapters that provide specific solutions to common Web programming needs. Readers learn the ins and outs of creating Ajaxified navigation, forms, lists, tables, frames, etc.

Part 3, called "Ajax in Applications," goes a step farther by showing the reader how to integrate Ajax with other applications. Chapter 16, for example, shows the reader how to incorporate Ajaxified Google search into a site and even include such dynamic features as search hinting. Other chapters in this section introduce Web services, Web APIs and even show how to create Ajax animated games.

Part 4 contains two chapters that show readers how to create more modular code, and how to create faster, more compressed code. This is critical considering the importance of speed to the user experience in Ajax.

One of the book's shortfalls is the lack of information about the various Ajax libraries. Libraries and frameworks provide solutions to common programming needs: ready-made widgets, improved JavaScript programming notation, useful objects and easy cross-browser compatibility. The author includes a brief introduction to the libraries in chapter 4 and a reference in Appendix B. There are also mentions of the major libraries scattered throughout the chapters. However, it would be worthwhile to include at least a chapter devoted to each of the major libraries such as Dojo, Prototype and jQuery.

Assuming you desire to learn AJAX then the short answer is to hit that back button and try something else.

If however you want to have a brief guide of the internet, computers, and various programming languages unrelated to AJAX then you should probably hit the back button and find books related specifically to those topics.

I am a programmer and I know how to use AJAX, which for the layman is a way to refresh content on a website without reloading the page. This book I read through because I figured it was the definitive guide, and might be able to provide some insights that I was unaware of regarding AJAX.

What I received for example, in chapter 21 was "internet games without plugins" which being a gamer i found an interesting title. I thought wow okay fine, how to use AJAX to make games without plugins.. that makes sense cause we don't have to refresh the page anymore! Instead was a history of different game genres and not a quip about how to program for them.

The large quantities of code have already been mentioned, and I thought there might have been some exaggeration. There is not. However, I thought well great... now i'll see lots of AJAX examples. Nope, nothing to do w/ajax.. everything to do with css,html,some javascript .. apis, mashups .. what?

Anyway, i just hope that i can save one person from giving away their money for a piece of junk that this book represents. Unless of course learning w/some sort of shotgun analogy then go right ahead.

I got this book to learn a little AJAX; I'm often curiuos how stuff works behind the scenes. I've been a fan of this series for years and loved JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, but I found this really hard to get through. It's sort of like reading the phone book, full of information, but dry as a bone. If you don't have a pretty good knowledge of XML, CSS, and XHTML already you won't learn enough here to help you.

Let me be clear, this is not a book that will teach you some AJAX tricks for your website. I find that a better way to learn, by seeing the little bits and then building to bigger and better things. I made it about half way through before I just lost interest and it's been sitting on the table ever since gathering dust ever since. If you're a devloper or really know what you're doing already and want to gain some better knowledge or some new ideas, then this is a good book. If you're just starting out or a casual user then you should definitely start with a different book.

For CSS, CSS: The Missing Manual was a well written and easy read. If that series ever does an AJAX book or just for learning the supporting pieces of AJAX bit by bit, you might try those books.

'Ajax: The Definitive Guide' certainly is definitive. With 950+ pages of content, this book doesn't know the word brevity. Spanning 23 chapters and 4 appendixes, this book covers everything you would want to know about AJAX. From its history to how it's grown to where things are today and in the future, this text is very complete. If you are new to AJAX and want to learn how to use it in an extensive way, this is a great resource. My only qualm with this book is that I feel it is just TOO big in size. A 'Learning AJAX' book at around 200-300 pages would be a great companion book to have on the side, then switching over to this bible-size book would be a good transition. Overall this is written well, laid out in detail, and typical O'Reilly quality.

***** RECOMMENDED

This is not the book to get if you are just beginning with JavaScript and/or CSS. The book is packed with rather advanced JS and CSS, and I have to say that this is the main focus. Not much explaining Ajax rather than advanced CSS I think.

I can't just understand why the writer have so much focus on using frameworks in this book. The main goal should be teaching Ajax.

Guess this book come in handy after some years of experience with JS and CSS.

n reading this book I started to wonder whether it was written in 2008 or in 2002. Certainly the earlier date seems more plausible given that the author seems to spend a lot of time concerned with browsers which were popular back then but which were soon after declared officially dead and buried. A lot of the coding techniques for the client side processing also dates to about the same era and wouldn't be used in a more modern web design.

A number of the recommendations in the book are also misleading. XHTML 1.1 and XHTML 2.0 are not suitable for creating web pages as there is no browser that supports them and yet the author recommends them as the way to code the content. Even the use for XHTML 1.0 is limited as IE8 doesn't support it served as XHTML and you need to serve it as HTML for it to work. The author though suggests using one of these versions of XHTML though even though none of the JavaScript presented in the book will work with XHTML.

While this book covers many different aspects of Ajax rather thoroughly, the suggestions made in many instances demonstrate a lack of knowledge on the part of the author.

"Ajax: The Definitive Guide" is exhaustive and boring.
It is probably the most boring programming book I have ever read.
I think a monkey smashing a keyboard would have written a better book.

Furthermore, the author's decision to rely on the Prototype framework is misguided. One expects a "Definitive Guide" to define, explore, and use the actual objects and methods defined by Javascript itself, not those defined in one of many, many external libraries (besides, Prototype has never been one of the top ones for one reason: jQuery, write less do more, is just better).

If you want to learn about Ajax, I recommend you to look elsewhere. This book is just a nightmare.

I've been programming for 20+ years and have a bookshelf full of O'Reilly titles. This one ranks among the poorest.

Its 924 pages could have been condensed into a hundred if the author had stuck to the topic.

There's not really that much to say about AJAX, hence the author decided to give us a skin-deep overview of Web 2.0 technologies. Worse, there is not a single compelling, engaging or interesting AJAX example in the book. The writing is wordy and generic. Code snippets are repetitive and go on and on.

Just do a Google search on AJAX and save the money and half a tree.