The year of JavaScript continues with yet
more enthusiasm about rapid-fire communication between clients and servers. The latest is Jesse James Garrett's
article, Ajax: A new approach to web
applications at Adaptive Path.
This article is a great introduction to the model used by Google Maps and
Google Suggest. We've been calling it
XMLHttpRequest or
Remote Scripting, but Jesse has coined the term Ajax
(Asynchronous JavaScript + XML), and this new buzzword seems to be catching on.
Now I could jump in here and point out that "Ajax" is a catch-all term for a collection of vague concepts,
and we just killed the term DHTML for the same
reason, but at least this one doesn't include "HTML" in its name, and besides, nobody likes to pronounce
"XMLHttpRequest".
[Incidentally, before we go too far with the detergent jokes,
Jeremy Keith points out that
Ajax is also the name of a
legendary Greek hero. It's also a
town in Ontario and a Dutch football
club.]
Ajax: You're soaking in it
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. I guess "vague concepts" wasn't really correct. "A collection of loosely-related concepts" would be more appropriate.
In the case of DHTML, some of the concepts (like downloadable fonts) were definitely almost unrelated, and Microsoft's definition of DHTML had different components than Netscape's. And worse, it became attached to both the W3C DOM and the two incompatible 90's-era DOMs, as you said.
My reasons for killing off DHTML were that it didn't really mean anything specific (depending on the year, or on who you asked) and the fact that the letters "HTML" caused no end of confusion - for example, XHTML is a markup language in the same vein as HTML, but DHTML wasn't.
Other people may have killed it for different reasons, but I'm just happy it's gone...
Posted at 5:49AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Michael Moncur
3. I'd say "ajax" is not a very good name as using asynchronous or synchronous calls are dependent on the situation. XMLHttpRequest supports both.
I am working on a solution using these very same technologies and mostly I opt for synchronous communication with XMLHttpRequest when dealing with form intensive applications.
More about it here:
http://www.dotvoid.com/view.php?id=28
4. Please don't perpetuate the name 'Ajax.' Go back to what you were originally calling it.
Posted at 5:49AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Brian
5. Boo Ajax! Promote XAP! -- http://h3h.net/2005/03/boo-ajax-promote-xap/
Posted at 5:49AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Brad
1. Actually, the reason the term "DHTML" was killed off (or has recently been generally acknowledged to have been killed off) was because of the unpleasant marketing connotations and late-nineties era browser incompatibilities it conjures up.
And BTW, to get even more picky, neither of them are names for a collection of vague concepts. They are names for a collection of specific technologies/standards.
Anyhow, it's useful that a name has been attached to them, even if not everyone agrees on it.
Posted at 5:49AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Mike