This is a book about developing effective web applications. We’re not
going to dance around this issue. Underneath everything else, this
book is about XHTML, Javas cript, CSS, and standards that have been
around for almost a decade now. Not only do we admit this truth,
we embrace it. Just because these standards have been around for a
while doesn’t mean that we can’t build something new and exciting out
of them. Technology, like Jello, takes a while to solidify into something
tasty and satisfying.
Ajax (and Web 2.0) represents the maturation of Internet standards
into a viable application development platform. The combination of sta-
ble standards, better understanding and a unifying vision amount to a
whole that is greater, by far, than the sum of its parts. With Ajax, you’ll
be able to achieve the double Holy Grail: feature-filled user interfaces
and a no-hassle, no-install deployment story.
It wasn’t long ago that Jesse James Garrettcoined the term Ajax.When
he first released the term onto the public consciousness, it stood for
Asynchronous Javas cript And XML. It has since, like SOAP before it,
lost its acronym status and is just a word. However, it is an enormously
powerful word. With this single word, Jesse James was able to harness
anindustry-wide trendtowardsricher,install-freewebapplications and
give it focus.