Saturday, August 11, 2012



About this book: 
Working with technology is a funny thing in that every time you think you have it cornered
. . . blam! Something pops out of nowhere that leaves you at once both bewildered and excited.
Web development seems to be particularly prone to such surprises. For instance, early on, all
we had to deal with was plain old HTML, which, aside from the never-ending table-wrangling,
was easy enough. But soon, the simple web site began to morph into a complex web applica-
tion, and accordingly, scripting languages such as PHP became requisite knowledge.
Server-side development having been long since mastered, web standards such as CSS and
XHTML were deemed the next link in the Web’s evolutionary chain.
With the emergence of Ajax, developers once again find themselves at a crossroads. How-
ever, just as was the case with the major technological leaps of the past, there’s little doubt as
to which road we’ll all ultimately take, because it ultimately leads to the conclusion of clicking
and waiting on the Web. Ajax grants users the luxury of accessing desktop-like applications
from any computer hosting a browser and Internet connection. Likewise, developers now
have more reason than ever to migrate their applications to an environment that has the
potential for unlimited users.
Yet despite all of Ajax’s promise, many web developers readily admit being intimidated by
the need to learn JavaScript (a key Ajax technology). Not to worry! I wrote this book to show
PHP users how to incorporate Ajax into their web applications without necessarily getting
bogged down in confusing JavaScript syntax, and I’ve chosen to introduce the topic by way of
practical examples and real-world instruction. The material is broken down into 14 chapters, each of which is described here:

Chapter 1: “Introducing Ajax,” puts this new Ajax technology into context, explaining the
circumstances that led to its emergence as one of today’s most talked about advance-
ments in web development.

Chapter 2: “Ajax Basics,” moves you from the why to the what, covering fundamental Ajax
syntax and concepts that will arise no matter the purpose of your application.

Chapter 3: “PHP and Ajax,” presents several examples explaining how the client and
server sides come together to build truly compelling web applications.

Chapter 4: “Database-Driven Ajax,” builds on what you learned in the previous chapter
by bringing MySQL into the picture.

Chapter 5: “Forms,” explains how Ajax can greatly improve the user experience by per-
forming tasks such as seemingly real-time forms validation.

Chapter 6: “Images,” shows you how to upload, manipulate, and display images the
Ajax way.

Chapter 7: “A Real-World Ajax Application,” applies everything you’ve learned so far to
build an Ajax-enabled photo gallery.

Chapter 8: “Ergonomic Display,” touches upon several best practices that should always
be applied when building rich Internet applications.

Chapter 9: “Web Services,” shows you how to integrate Ajax with web services, allowing
you to more effectively integrate content from providers such as Google and Amazon.

Chapter 10: “Spatially Enabled Web Applications,” introduces one of the Web’s showcase
Ajax implementations: the Google Maps API.

Chapter 11: “Cross-Browser Issues,” discusses what to keep in mind when developing
Ajax applications for the array of web browsers in widespread use today.

Chapter 12: “Security,” examines several attack vectors introduced by Ajax integration,
and explains how you can avoid them.

Chapter 13: “Testing and Debugging,” introduces numerous tools that can lessen the
anguish often involved in debugging JavaScript.

Chapter 14: “The DOM,” introduces the document object model, a crucial element in the
simplest of Ajax-driven applications.

About Author:

LEE BABIN is a programmer based in Calgary, Alberta, where he owns
and operates an innovative development firm duly named Code Writer.
He has been developing complex web-driven applications since his
graduation from DeVry University in early 2002, and has since worked
on over 100 custom web sites and online applications. 
Lee is married to a beautiful woman by the name of Dianne, who
supports him in his rather full yet rewarding work schedule. Lee and
Dianne are currently expecting their first child, and Lee cannot wait to
be a father.
Lee enjoys video games, working out, martial arts, and traveling, and can usually be foundworking online on one of his many fun web projects.

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