Ajax in Practice (Paperback)

by Dave Crane (Author), Bear Bibeault (Author), Jord Sonneveld (Author), Ted Goddard (Author), Chris Gray (Author), Ram Venkataraman (Author), Joe Walker (Author)
Key Phrases: blue lpx, proxy servlet, draggable item, Internet Explorer, Hello Ajax, Prototype's Ajax (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Ajax in Practice provides example-rich coverage of Ajax packed with ready-to-use code and practical recipes for common and not-so-common tasks. Ajax developers now face the move from Ajax-as-theory to Ajax-in-practice. Ajax in Practice guides web developers through the transition from learning about Ajax to successfully applying Ajax-driven techniques in real-world development scenarios.

Ajax gives web developers the potential to create rich user-centered internet applications. But Ajax also adds a new level of complexity and sophistication to those applications. Ajax in Practice tackles Ajax head-on, providing countless hands-on techniques and tons of reusable code to address the specific issues developers face when building Ajax-driven solutions.

After a brief overview of Ajax, this book takes the reader through dozens of working examples, all presented in an easy-to-use cookbook format. Readers will learn how to implement drag-and-drop interfaces and will discover how to create effective nagigation strategies for their applications. Unlike a traditional cookbook, though, Ajax in Practice provides a thorough discussion of each technique presented and shows how the individual components can be connected to create powerful solutions. A fun "mash-up" chapter concludes the book. Throughout Ajax in Practice, the examples chosen are interesting, entertaining, and practical.

About the Author
Dave Crane has 10 years+ in IT, using Java, PHP, Python, UNIX, etc. in the fields of digital TV, banking, and sustainable development. He is also a best-selling author of several Ajax books in the industry.

Chris was raised on the Blue Hill Peninsula of Maine, studied at the Maine College of Art, in Portland, Maine, and received his degree in furniture and cabinet making from the North Bennett Street School, in Boston, MA. Chris is the great-grandson of author Helen Sylvester.

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications (May 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932394990
• ISBN-13: 978-1932394993
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #576,105 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars make this your second AJAX book, June 24, 2007

By	Jeanne Boyarsky (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

The back cover says that "Ajax in Practice" is a "second generation" book. The book covers a mix of problem/solution descriptions for common problems, Ajax tips and advanced JavaScript techniques. The cookbook style is useful if you are trying to implement a specific Ajax effect. The book touches on a number of libraries/toolkits where appropriate. It also covers integrating with existing Ajax libraries.

The book assumes you know basic JavaScript, CSS and HTML. If you are new to Ajax, I recommend reading a "first generation" book like "Ajax in Action" first. This book is a lot easier to follow if you have some exposure to Ajax. In particular, the problem/solution style involves learning by reading a lot of code. This is overwhelming on the first shot. I had to pull out my copy of "Ajax in Action" to follow parts of it. While some of the examples are long, they don't include unnecessary code.

I liked that the book has a common flow to it. Even though there are seven authors/contributors, the style is the same and it makes sense. I learned a lot about specific uses of Ajax along with examples/techniques of good Ajax code. This should definitely be the second Ajax book you read!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction to AJAX, November 12, 2007

By	David Ehrens (S. Dartmouth, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A lot of programming books, particularly in the Open Source world, are written by people who pinch their noses and jump into the deep end. Some of them can't swim themselves, and others pull unwary victims into the depths where everyone perishes. OK, so maybe my diving analogy has gone too far, but I'll stay with it for just a moment longer. The authors of Ajax in Practice, in contrast, run a dive shop where everyone learns and everyone passes the PADI exam. This is thanks to a style of writing which begins at (where else?) the beginning, gives the reader the big picture, and moves through exercises that are readable, sensible, and progressive. If this is strikingly obvious, it is also strikingly absent from most computer books. Let's face it, if I want to read poorly-written and half-baked documents, I'll curl up with the sorry excuse for "online manuals" that accompany most Open Source software. In contrast, I expect more from books that I BUY. And Crand, Bibeault and Sonneveld don't disappoint. I learned about JSON, how JavaScript and server-side languages exchange XML, got a refresher on JavaScript OOP concepts, and a good tour of some of the main AJAX frameworks out there -- all before page 100. The book doesn't try to be encyclopediac, nor does it offer fluff. Crane knows his stuff. I loved this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical recipes for improving your Ajax programs, November 16, 2007

By	Bas Vodde (Singapore) - See all my reviews

Ajax is Practice is kind-of the follow-up book on Ajax in Action. Ajax in Action provided the basic fundamental things to know about Ajax. Ajax in Practice goes beyond that and gives you very concrete code snippets and explanation on how to "do things". It's concrete, practical and well-written.

The book is split into 2 different parts. The first part introduces the Ajax fundamentals, Javascript, JSON, XML, XSLT and the Prototype library. The prototype library is used throughout the book. It ends with an overview of the current ajax toolkits available. The first part is 150 pages and just gives you a quick intro and gets you ready for... part 2.

The second part is the main content of the book. Every chapter contains a practical topic which you can use within your ajax application. The topics go from handling events, navigation, undo-ing to drag and drop. Chapter 12 introduces available services and then chapter 13 combines earlier things together and build a quite nice travel reporting program (something we always wanted to have...)

I thoroughly enjoyed ajax in practice. It was very concrete and useful. The knowledge in the chapters can immediately be put in practice. If you're involved with Ajax development, or even just starting, then this book is certainly recommended.