AJAX and PHP: Building Responsive Web Applications
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Book Contents Index > Chapter 1

Introduction
1: AJAX and the Future Of Web Applications
2: Client-Side Techniques with Smarter JavaScript
3: Server-Side Techniques with PHP and MySQL
4: AJAX Form Validation
5: AJAX Chat & JSON
6: AJAX Suggest and Autocomplete
7: SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
8: AJAX Grid  
9: AJAX RSS Reader
10: AJAX Drag and Drop
Appendix A: Configuring Your Working Environment
Appendix B: Using Smarter Tools to Write Better Code
Appendix C: Advanced XML

Index

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Chapter 1: AJAX and the Future Of Web Applications [0.5 MB PDF]
Chapter 5: AJAX Chat [1 MB PDF]

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Chapter 1: AJAX and the Future of Web Applications
"Computer, draw a robot!" said my young cousin to the first computer he had ever seen. (Since I had instructed it not to listen to strangers, the computer wasn't receptive to this command.) If you're like me, your first thought would be "how silly" or "how funny" but this is a mistake. Our educated and modeled brains have learned how to work with computers to a certain degree. People are being educated to accommodate computers, to compensate for the lack of ability of computers to understand humans. (On the other hand, humans can't accommodate very well themselves, but that's another story.)

This little story is relevant to the way people instinctively work with computers. In an ideal world, that spoken command should have been enough to have the computer please my cousin. The ability of technology to be user-friendly has evolved very much in the past years, but there's still a long way till we have real intelligent computers. Until then, people need to learn how to work with computers - some to the extent that they end up loving a black screen with a tiny command prompt on it.

Not incidentally, the computer-working habits of many are driven by software with user interfaces that allow for intuitive (and enjoyable) human interaction. This probably explains the popularity of the right mouse button, the wonder of fancy features such as drag and drop, or that simple text box that searches content all over the Internet for you in just 0.1 seconds (or so it says). The software industry (or the profitable part of it, anyway) has seen, analyzed, and learned. Now the market is full of programs with shiny buttons, icons, windows, and wizards, and people are paying a lot of money for them.

Read the chapter in full: AJAX and the Future Of Web Applications [0.5 MB PDF]
 

Chapter 1: AJAX and the Future of Web Applications
  • Delivering Functionality via Web
    • Advantages of Web Applications
       
  • Building Websites Since 1990
    • HTTP and HTML
    • PHP and Other Server-Side Technologies
    • JavaScript and Other Client-Side Technologies
    • What's Been Missing?
  • Understanding AJAX
     
  • Building a Simple Application with AJAX and PHP
    • Time for Action - Quickstart AJAX
  • Summary
VIEW DEMO: http://ajaxphp.packtpub.com/ajax/quickstart/ (Try typing Yoda!)
   

 

Paperback 250 pages
Released: February 2005
ISBN: 1847192825
ISBN 13:
978-1-904811-82-4

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