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What are best resources to learn AJAX in detail?

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closed as off topic by Zuly Gonzalez♦ Jul 1 '12 at 18:02

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First of all... I think you should post this question in a different site... http://stackoverflow.com perhaps? However, since I am already here and I have a fair answer to your question here it goes.

Look at the following sites for resources, guides and examples on how to use AJAX:

http://jquery.com/

http://tekpub.com/production/jquery This site charges $25 for the webcast but it is well worth the money. I've used this before and was very happy with the quality and the content.

http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/default.asp

Good luck!

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I agree with Ricardo, StackOverflow might be a better place for this question.

AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML and is generally written in JavaScript. It primarily utilizes the XMLHttpRequest object within the DOM. To learn how to use this object and build AJAX functionality, however, you'll first need to learn JavaScript.

O'Reilly's books are a fantastic resource. Here are some books that will help, in order of most basic to most advanced:

  1. Learning JavaScript
  2. JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
  3. JavaScript: The Good Parts
  4. AJAX: The Definitive Guide

If you prefer to learn from videos, Douglas Crockford has a bunch that are hosted on the YUI Theater site. Just look for all of his videos (unfortunately, there's no way to filter the videos to display just his).

The definitive blog on all topics AJAX is Ajaxian, where you can find many examples of cool uses of AJAX.

There are lots of cross-browser & cross-platform issues with the XMLHttpRequest object, however. Therefore, many developers use cross-platform JavaScript libraries to easily get around this. Some popular libraries are:

To tie this back to startups & business, you can look at AJAX with this kind of business benefit:

AJAX allows you to create websites that act like desktop applications on a web browser. When you click on a button, you don't need to wait for the entire page to reload. Just a small piece of it can change. Gmail and Google Maps are perhaps the best examples of good uses of AJAX. This means perceived & actual improved download times, improved usability, and improved functionality. This leads to greater user enjoyment, lower user frustration, and thus, hopefully, greater user retention.

Hope this helps.

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Good post! Don't forget the Mootools library... – jimg Jun 23 '10 at 15:32
Ah yes, mootools.net ! – Mike Lee Jun 23 '10 at 16:53
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IMHO, The best way to learn is hands on.

There is a great little web "series", creating a web app from scratch which steps you through the... umm.. steps necessary to build an application. Ajax is part of it.

Here's the link.

Ajax, like other technologies, is best understood in the context of a actual application - many times people just tack on the functionality for a "gee whiz" eye candy. A good example of the benefits of ajax in a ecommerce environment is a one page checkout process. (demo site - add an item to the cart and press checkout) As you change the options, you get immediate feedback on any price / delivery changes. Makes the checkout process a non-threatening process.

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