Book Review: Ajax for Web Application Developers

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Ajax for Web Application Developers

Author: Kris Hadlock
Format: Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Sams; 1st edition (October 30, 2006)
ISBN: 0672329123

Review by James Pyles
December 7, 2006

Kris Hadlock's book hits the ground running and you'd better have the "legs" to keep up. Quite a bit of information is crammed into the book's slim 288 pages however don't expect to start out with elementary JavaScript. Hadlock wrote this book with the web developer in mind, not the person who thinks they might want to be one someday. While most books would have a lengthy introductory chapter, Chapter 1, "Introduction to Ajax" is exactly two pages long. Not much time for a first meeting but perhaps enough for a reunion with someone you are already acquainted with.

The book starts out with concepts you should already know such as CSS, XML, JavaScript, JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), and XML DOM (Document Object Model). If you find yourself scratching your head, wondering what some of those terms mean, you might want to start out with a more elementary text and work your way up to this one.

On the other hand, if you are an experienced developer or a web development student, you'll find a plethora of information between the covers of this book. The title of the book is slightly misleading in that the content is not strictly limited to Ajax. Hadlock provides information about how to establish connnections to MySQL databases with PHP 5 using a customized Ajax engine. XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript are all stirred into the mix so the reader learns how to develop web apps from start to finish.

The latter part of the book ties the previous sections together and illustrates the construction of a full-fledged web mail application. An important part of the package is learning the ecology of making reusable code, saving the developer the trouble of "reinventing the wheel". The person who masters this practice will have Ajax components at their fingertips that can be used for future application projects.

Bonuses not found in the book include Kris Hadlock's website which provides additional articles on web design and Creating a Reusable AJAX Library which can be found at AjaxWorldConference.com. Registering the book at SAMS Publishing will give you access to a zip file containing additional Ajax examples.

Despite the all the recent hype surrounding Ajax, Kris Hadlock establishes how it is an ideal tool for quickly making reusable components for a wide variety of web applications. A "must-read" for developers already experienced in web design who want to go the next step.