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Ajax is no longer an experimental approach to website development, but the key to building browser-based applications that form the cornerstone of Web 2.0. Head First Ajax gives you an up-to-date perspective that lets you see exactly what you can do -- and has been done -- with Ajax. With it, you get a highly practical, in-depth, and mature view of what is now a mature development approach.

Using the unique and highly effective visual format that has turned Head First titles into runaway bestsellers, this book offers a big picture overview to introduce Ajax, and then explores the use of individual Ajax components -- including the JavaScript event model, DOM, XML, JSON, and more -- as it progresses. You'll find plenty of sample applications that illustrate the concepts, along with exercises, quizzes, and other interactive features to help you retain what you've learned.

Head First Ajax covers:

• The JavaScript event model
• Making Ajax requests with XMLHTTPREQUEST objects
• The asynchronous application model
• The Document Object Model (DOM)
• Manipulating the DOM in JavaScript
• Controlling the browser with the Browser Object Model
• XHTML Forms
• POST Requests
• XML Syntax and the XML DOM tree
• XML Requests & Responses
• JSON -- an alternative to XML
• Ajax architecture & patterns
• The Prototype Library

The book also discusses the server-side implications of building Ajax applications, and uses a "black box" approach to server-side components.

Head First Ajax is the ideal guide for experienced web developers comfortable with scripting -- particularly those who have completed the exercises in Head First JavaScript -- and for experienced programmers in Java, PHP, and C# who want to learn client-side programming.