Ajax in Practice

This book by Dave Crane, Bear Bibeault and Jord Sonneveld aims to be of a second-generation Ajax book. It should go beyond just explaining the technology and explore in details the different client-side Ajax technologies and show what you can do with them. The target audience is a developer that has already a background of developing web applications and a basic knowledge of JavaScript. I can say that the book achieves its goals and provides practical concepts and code excerpts that can be readily used. For every topic that is discussed in the book, there is a detailed code example that shows how to use it in practice. I like also the fact that the specific goal of important lines are put in evidence in the code examples.

The book is divided in two parts. The first part contains four chapters that present the basic concepts of Ajax. After an introduction, it discusses the various communications techniques like Json or XML. A chapter is then dedicated to object-oriented JavaScript, that the authors present as a must to build scalable Ajax code. Finally, the book takes a closer look at the different JavaScript libraries (Prototype, Dojo and JQuery) used for Ajax applications.

The second part presents the various practices that could be used in client-side programming and are related to Ajax, either directly or indirectly: events, data entry and validation, navigation, drag-and-drop, usability, state management. Each topic is clearly explained in a dedicated chapter. A chapter is also dedicated to integrating outside API like Yahoo! or Google maps. Finally, a last chapter is dedicated to a sample mash-up application.

The code for the very first example in the book (listing 1.1) is wrong, and the forum at the book's website seems to be abandoned (someone pointed out the problem nine months ago, but was never answered). There seem to be other problems with the code as well.

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.

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.

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!