I admit it. I didn't know anything about AJAX other than some high level concepts. Reading around on the web prior to this got me so deep in AJAX hype that I was beginning to think it would make children everywhere be born naked. I'm not certain that children being born naked is a good or bad thing, but I know that it happens anyway - so I found it all questionable. Why would I need AJAX? Why would my clients need AJAX? What if they already have clean toilets? Everywhere I looked basically said that AJAX would cause children to be born naked, wielding toilet brushes.
Children are already born naked. Every day. Really. It's a documented fact. Dressing in utero hasn't become fashionable yet. And if any child is born with a toilet brush in hand... well...
But wait! Why on earth would I get the book then?
It's simple. I liked the overall concept of AJAX, and thought it would be a useful tool for the toolbox. In fact, this site is getting server quota warnings now and then. Minimizing the stress on the servers I deal with has become more and more important, not just here, but with my clients for their intranet and internet sites which require customization of a lot of code which deals with MySQL in a very biblical manner. And in dealing when dealing with code in a biblical manner, one doesn't want to lean too far toward Sodom and Gomorrah. All that 'pillar of salt' business seems like it would be very uncomfortable. Understanding how AJAX could keep me away from 'Sodom and Gomorrah' scenarios is really what my interest is. The servers I deal with agree.
The Book Experience
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I'd been spoiled in the past by another Head First Labs book, 'Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML', so I was expecting a good experience. This was balanced by my lack of knowledge of AJAX itself, so I ended up doing a lot of the examples and... eating pizza.
Pavlov struck on xxiii, when I read, "Do I smell pizza?" Evil. So I ordered a pizza (you can see it in the picture), and continued along. There were a few interruptions, but because of the way that the book was written, I was able to get right back into the groove easily. The ability to do this with a book is something that ranks among the highest things neglected in a book review - the ability to answer the phone, talk to a client, hack a quick PHP fix for something, and get back to the book without having to flip back some pages to figure out exactly where you are. Typically, I like to sit somewhere extremely quiet or extremely noisy when reading to avoid this - but with this book, I didn't have much of a choice. The code examples, available for download, work - but in my experience, there's a danger with just running with them and not doing the work. The book is structured so that you understand the concepts before you look at the code - unlike most programming books, you probably shouldn't just 'flip to a section' and try to figure things out. Read this book in a linear way. It will help you. It helped me. I can now spell AJAX, and separate the myth from the reality. In doing all of this, Brett McLaughlin and the cast of supporting images allowed me, the Great AJAX Cynic, not only to see that AJAX could be useful and how to use it, but most importantly, when to use it. |
A Few Words on AJAX And My Own Context For Reading the Book
A couple of years ago, everything was about SOAP. Now it's hard to come across anything on the web that doesn't have something about AJAX and Web 2.0. I think javascript is largely overused on the internet, and I think that XML is, in fact, the best thing since hot pastrami on rye with pickles and deli mustard. I'm exceedingly hard on new acronyms and 'technologies' that have existed before under less marketable names, and AJAX is no exception. The real AJAX that this book portrays is a good thing, and something I mean to use in present and future projects, as needed.
For example, on this site (which runs Drupal) every time you add a comment, the entire page reloads. That's something that could be fixed with AJAX, so that only the added comments are sent back to the page. That would mean:
- A faster user experience; and on the web the user is the center of the universe. Without the user, it all means nothing.
- Decreased bandwidth: Costs can decrease, or you can serve more information for less bandwidth. You don't have to be tied to page loads for things anymore.
- With PHP code, less PHP overhead on a busy site depending on how you do your code.
There are times when AJAX is a great tool, and I'll be digging into them on my projects to save myself from 'pillar of salt' scenarios. This book had a lot to do with changing my mind, and I'm trying to figure out, even as I write this, how to use AJAX to streamline this site and a few client sites.
In fact, I don't think I read 'Web 2.0' anywhere in the book!
The asynchronous nature of AJAX is where the most benefit is. Using it properly instead of everywhere can make life a lot simpler for everyone. I think I owe someone a dollar now.
Why You Shouldn't Buy This Book
If you're new to web programming, don't start with this book. This should be a book on your horizon, but for now you might want to consider starting with Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML (Head First)
If you want something like a manual for UNIX to read, this is not your book, and if you're into that sort of sadism I would suggest getting professional help.
The book also has the strange ability to make you order pizza, so if you're on an exotic diet, you may want to approach it carefully. I'm still eating cold pizza from yesterday.
Why You Should Buy This Book
If you want to scrape past the hype of AJAX and see what it can do and how to use it, this is your book. If you cannot spell javascript, that isn't too much of a problem - javascript itself isn't too difficult, and while knowing javascript well is an asset, it's nothing that you can't pick up along the way: in fact, the use of the javascript in the book can be considered an education in and of itself.
Most programmers/web administrators/website developers lead non-linear lives. We read between fires that we have to put out (or start sometimes), and a book that you can put down and get back to without having to reread pages is important. Because of the way the Head First series of books is written, this is probably true of all of them but it's something that did get tested with this particular book - and it passed with flying colors.
Thumbs Up
In all, I enjoyed and learned from the 407 pages and the simple, straightforward code examples. I really did. And more importantly, I see where I can use it and what I can use it for. The hidden benefit that I have already found is that because of the images and so forth, it's easy for me to find a reference I have looked for.
This isn't a book. This is a companion. If you want to learn AJAX, Head Rush Ajax
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go look at some code... :-)
(Also see the O'Reilly catalog)
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