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Ajax in Action
 
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Ajax in Action [Illustrated] (Paperback)

by Dave Crane (Author), Eric Pascarello (Author), Darren James (Author)
2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £31.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 680 pages
  • Publisher: Manning Publications; illustrated edition edition (1 Oct 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1932394613
  • ISBN-13: 978-1932394610
  • Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 18.8 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 163,167 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description
Val's Blog "A tremendously useful field guide specifically written for developers down in the trenches...waiting for the killer solution..."

Web users are getting tired of the traditional web experience. They get frustrated losing their scroll position; they get annoyed waiting for refresh; they struggle to reorient themselves on every new page. And the list goes on. With asynchronous JavaScript and XML, known as "Ajax," you can give them a better experience. Once users have experienced an Ajax interface, they hate to go back. Ajax is new way of thinking that can result in a flowing and intuitive interaction with the user.

Ajax in Action helps you implement that thinking--it explains how to distribute the application between the client and the server (hint: use a "nested MVC" design) while retaining the integrity of the system. You will learn how to ensure your app is flexible and maintainable, and how good, structured design can help avoid problems like browser incompatibilities. Along the way it helps you unlearn many old coding habits. Above all, it opens your mind to the many advantages gained by placing much of the processing in the browser. If you are a web developer who has prior experience with web technologies, this book is for you.

About the Author
Dave Crane has pushed the boundaries of DHTML, and latterly Ajax, on digital TV set-top boxes, in home automation and banking and financial systems. He lives in Gloucestershire, UK.

Eric Pascarello is an ASP.NET developer and a moderator of the HTML and JavaScript forum at JavaRanch. He lives in Laurel, MD.

Darren James is the architect of the open source Rico project. He lives in Sunnyvale, CA.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:    (0)
4 star:
 (3)
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2 star:
 (2)
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Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Part One - not impressed, 19 April 2007
By Duncan Green "Software Professional" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I have just read through the first part of this book and learned virtually nothing in 116 pages.

Part One - Rethinking the Web Application

Chapter 1 - A new design for the web, 27 pages.
This is an overview of Ajax that is so trivial as to be insulting and can be safely skipped unless you've been living on the moon recently.

Chapter 2 - First steps with Ajax, 37 pages.
A frustratingly wordy and paper thin introduction to the ajax technologies of Javascript, CSS, DOM and XmlHTTPRequest. It even includes a recap on HTTP! Skip most of this chapter unless you're a complete novice.

Chapter 3 - Introducing order to Ajax, 47 pages.
This chapter demonstrates perfectly the very worst form of bloat in technical books today. It has little to do with Ajax. Not only do Design Patterns receive a very undignified roughing up (a confused half page on Facade for example) but a woefully inaccurate account of Refactoring is levered in for good measure. This latter definition includes no mention of automated unit tests (JSUnit?) and suggests that Refactoring is nothing more than 'changing stuff' (hack hack hack). A not bad section on MVC follows. The chapter is rounded off with a frustratingly short section (11 pages) on Ajax frameworks.

So far definitely not worth the money!

If you don't find a review of Part Two at some point, assume I've hacked my own head off with a rusty saw.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Too much waffle., 22 Oct 2008
By Mr. Jeremy Flowers "Looking for Java work" (Milton Keynes, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I wouldn't recommend this book unless your an absolute newcomer.
The best thing to do is run the screencast and don't buy the book!
On the plus side it gives examples using Prototype, Scriptaculuous, X and Rico. So you'll get an appreciation of these frameworks. It does go into some detail about design patterns. Chapter 8 on performance was the best chapter in book.
On the down side:
* Chapters 1-8: Are rather labored and elementary. There's a lot of superflous stuff. jQuery in Action by contrast is snappy & to the point.
* Chapter 9-13. Examples are given. The problem is this book tries to be all things to all developers and consequently delivers a watered down result. (Some VB.NET/ASP.NET/C#/PHP/Java. Wouldn't be so bad if versions of each server-side code were in Ch9-13 with deployment instructions).
=> I've just finished reading chapter 9 and found the author of that particular chapter both facetious and egotisical.
=> The last 5 chapters are presented in a fashion where code is created then refactored. Why not cut to the chase. Just show the refactored stuff. I found this most arduous in chapter 9 and feel enough is enough. Next book...
Other major disappointments:
* A couple of the more meaty examples appear to be missing (Battleships from ch7 and ObjectViewer ch4-6. You were supposed to be able to edit data on Planets. Couldn't see it in download).
* The code that is there is buggy doesn't work in IE7. I see a lot of posts along same line with IE6 on Manning forum.
* A lot of the external links are broken in chapter summaries.
* And finally unlike other Manning authors, the forum doesn't get regularly reviewed by it's authors.
* My advice. Steer clear and look at something like jQuery In Action.
The code for that book is spot on and the authors style of writing is much crisper.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good intro to Ajax principles and architecture, 6 April 2008
Looking for the latest DHTML tricks and Javascript libraries? You came to the wrong place: this was published in 2005.

But I really liked this book. All you need is competence with HTML, CSS and Javascript, and Ajax in Action will help you understand what makes Ajax different from the traditional client-server architecture of web apps. It also introduces some design patterns and other basic considerations, e.g. cross browser issues. The second half of the book has several examples that illustrate what Ajax can buy you.

If you're already doing Ajax, there's not likely to be much here of any practical value, and a lot of the basic issues have been finessed away with the more common Javascript libraries. But if you're looking for a higher-level overview of the principles of Ajax and the issues involved in delivering the Ajax experience across browsers, this is still very relevant.

Reading Ajax in Action is not going to make you an expert. But this (or something like Head Rush Ajax is a very good introduction.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not for everyone...
There has been a trend recently for focussed books that are short and specific, some of them very good. This book however is fairly long-winded. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Benjamin Bass

1.0 out of 5 stars Hate this book
I really can't think of a good thing to say about this book, just wish I had not bothered buying it.
Published 19 months ago by BinaryJam

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book On Ajax
This book is the best there is on Ajax, Its got a few bad points such as being a bit bloated, maybe a 50-100 pages longer then it should have been. Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2007 by Tom

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