Professional Ajax, 2nd Edition

This is a great book -- from chapter 3 onward. :-) Otherwise, I would give it only one star.Unfortunately, the first 2 chapters are mostly CIPU (clear if previously understood). And, if you don't get a clear understanding of AJAX basics (which you will not get with this book) then the rest of the book is not on topic.The part of chapter 2 that deals with hidden frames and iFrames was interesting, but obsolete. (Does anybody use frames anymore?) After laboring thru 15 tedious pages you finally find out that this is not the way to do things (as though anybody would these days!). You are then hit with the fact that you must use the authors' zXml library from here on to get things to work. That's just great! Nothing like introducing some 3rd party proprietary confusion to add to an already confusing topic.As with another AJAX book I have reviewed ("AJAX In Action") these guys really know their stuff. But they forgot that the average reader who buys their book wants to know about AJAX first, not about Comet, mashups and JSON. The blurb on the back cover is misleading. In answer to the topic, "Who this book is for" it states:"This book is for web developers who want to enhance the usability of their [web] sites and applications. Familiarity with JavaScript, HTML and CSS is necessary, as is experience with a server-side language such as PHP or a .NET language."Well, I am quite experienced with most of the above topics, but still got very little in the way of how AJAX actually works from this book. This book should be re-titled, "Professional AJAX For The EXPERIENCED AJAX Developer."

I found this book to be extremely informative. It is written in a clear, engaging style that makes it a pleasure to read. The examples are well constructed, relevant to real world applications, and thoroughly explained. The essential bits of code are highlighted for quick reading. The most irritating thing about web development is cross-browser support, and authors do a great job to making this less intimidating and point readers to libraries to abstract away the differences. Also covered are related JavaScript XML, XPath, XSLT support, web services, RSS/Atom.PHP is the primary server side language used, though they chose .NET/C# for creating a web service. Microsoft's .NET web service tools are excellent, but I would have liked it if the authors had rounded this out with giving the basics of creating a web service using open source solutions.If you want to learn Ajax techniques and related technologies, this book is well worth your time and money.

Thanks

I haven't got a chance to go through all details yet, but looks pretty good so far.

This is a great book but entirely irrelevant in todays world. The libraries and methods outlined here are outdated. With modern javascript frameworks like jQuery and Prototype there is, in my humble opinion, certainly no need to delve into the techniques of this book.

The product is in good shape. The shipping is reasonable and it came few days before I really need it...

Professional Ajax will enable you to get up to speed with Ajax, the problems that Ajax solves, and common patters for Ajax use. The authors also introduce you to a cross-platform library to ease your own script development. The writing style is clear and no-nonsense.I was happy to see their approach in explaining scripting techniques. Once to address IE, once to address Mozilla, and once to address the combined approach. I found this to be very helpful, as most sources jumble it all together. I was not happy to see that Opera and Safari were entirely ignored. The world doesn't need another Ajax app that fails in these browsers!I was also surprised to see that the book is most definitely not platform-agnostic. At least not to the extent that I was led to believe by the description and comments. Examples are C# and PHP.Too much time was spent focused on the server side. For example, the web servcies section spent more time showing you how to setup a web service in .Net than it did showing you how to consume it with Ajax. The server side could have been abstracted -- in a book about Ajax, the server side is a black box -- all that matters is what is sent out, and what is returned. I couldn't care less about the algorithms used to create the return.All-in-all, it was a good read. Fast, to the point, concise. I'd also recommend Ajax in Action for a more thorough review of patterns, a look at elegantly creating reusable Ajax components, and coverage of other Ajax-related topics like usage of frameworks.

This book is very well done. It is a good introduction to AJAX and gets you up to speed quick.CONS:1. Not enough treatment on the server side of things in the beginning chapters. Needed a little more on serializing XML, but then how do you do that in a platform-agnostic way. I was a little disappointed that there were little or no examples in java/jsp/servlet during the Basics, Patterns and XML chapters. Could have used that. Assumes knowledge of PHP.2. Need a little more treatment of XML/XPath/XSLT. Gets a little bit confusing when the technologies are all combined.3. I feel like the patterns chapter could have followed the XML/XPath/XSLT chapter.4. Maybe JSON could be left for the back of the book since the X in AJAX stands for XML. Just a thought.5. About 65 pages of the book are just on AjaxMail, which has numerous examples, but was a lot of reading to go through on one application.PROS:1. Not a beginner's book. Assumes knowledge of many things, like PHP, network protocols, HTTP, etc. I'm glad a lot of those details were left out and AJAX was focused on.2. Gets you up and running with good, working examples.3. The patterns chapter is very helpful in deciding how to use the stuff.4. Good chapter on widgets.5. Bang for the buck when talking about the AJAX frameworks that are out there. Fairly good treatment of JPSpan, DWR and AJAX.NET.

A teensy long winded, but holds your hand firmly. Also a bit dated - but kinda interesting from a look-in-your-rear-view perspective (internet years huh! don't they fly by). I'm a cut-to-the-code-geek, so I preferred Advanced Ajax by Lauriat (better code, not so well explained).Detailed code hand-holding for an Ajax debut. Code examples, explained in detail.

It's a dated book that is easily covered in almost all other javascript books. In need for a major update.