This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

In just a short time, you can learn how to use Ajax, JavaScript, and PHP to create interactive interfaces to your web applications by combining these powerful technologies.

No previous Ajax programming experience is required. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson in this book builds on the previous ones, enabling you to learn the essentials of Ajax programming with JavaScript, PHP, and related technologies from the ground up.

Regardless of whether you run Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X, the enclosed CD includes a complete Ajax programming starter kit that gives you all the programming tools, reference information, JavaScript libraries, and server software you need to set up a stable environment for learning, testing, and production.

Learn how to…

• Build better, more interactive interfaces for your web applications

• Make JavaScript, HTML, XML, and PHP work together to create Ajax effects

• Compile an Ajax application

• Create and consume web services with SOAP and REST

• Avoid common errors and troubleshoot programs

• Use popular Ajax libraries to speed up and improve common programming tasks

On the CD

• XAMPP for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux–an easy-to-install package to set up a PHP- and MySQL-enabled Apache server on your computer

• The jEdit programming editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux

• Prototype, Scriptaculous, Rico, and XOAD–popular JavaScript libraries for creating Ajax applications and effects

• A complete Ajax, HTML, XML, and PHP tutorial reference library in searchable PDF format

• Source code for the examples in the book

Phil Ballard is a software engineering consultant and developer specializing in website and intranet design and development for an international portfolio of clients. He has an honors degree from the University of Leeds, England, and has worked for several years in commercial and managerial roles in the high technology sector.

Michael Moncur is a freelance webmaster and author. He runs a network of websites and has written several bestselling books about web development, networking, certification programs, and databases.

Category: Web Development

Covers: Ajax, JavaScript and PHP

User Level: Beginning—Intermediate

$39.99 USA / $43.99 CAN / £25.99 Net UK

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 6 Ratings

Incomplete - 2008-09-22
Reviewer Rating:
As has been said in a previous review, this book already seems quite dated after only the first two chapters. Having completed the book, I can say it only got worse. Much of the basics are covered fairly well, but as the book progresses into more complicated areas, where more detailed explanations are really needed, it fails to deliver. Some of the example code will not even run without error. It seems the book is a "best of" compilation thrown together from bits of previous books, but purported to be a new work.

Both computer libraries and college-level courses will find it a winner - 2008-10-13
Reviewer Rating:
No previous Ajax programming experience is needed to use this book, which provides step-by-step lessons on using Ajax, programming with JavaScript and PHP, and understanding their technological foundations. The cd includes a complete Ajax programming starter kit with all tools needed to set up a learning and testing environment, while the pages of black and white screen shots and applications provide all the detail necessary to follow through. Both computer libraries and college-level courses will find it a winner.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Good book but not quite up to what I was looking for - 2008-11-22
Reviewer Rating:
This actually is a decent book but I felt it wasn't quite up to what I thought I was buying. I was hoping for a little more subject matter on actually using all three technologies together and how that might look. For a lot of folks, mixing Javascript and PHP is a mystery and this could have been covered better. Ajax topics were well written, however.

Where are the steps? - 2008-10-19
Reviewer Rating:
Contrary to its publishing blurb, this book contains very few "step by step" instructions and almost no opportunities to practice or integrate the information presented. Although the very basic principles of JavaScript, Ajax, and PHP are fairly easy to understand from what is written, the more complicated the programming concepts, the fewer and further between are explanations, examples, and exercises. This book is so "Do-It-Yourself" that I'd literally recommend going and buying three different books on each of the topics this one tries to cover rather than bothering with this one.

The cut-and-paste editing of the text is also obvious, with various standards of HTML being adhered to on different pages, without any regard for or even mention of current best practices for any of the technologies in question. I'm reading this book under an online subscription and am very glad I did not actually buy it, because I am learning very little that I didn't already know.

For someone with no programming experience at all, its usefulness would be very limited, as it is mainly a breezy introduction to its subject matter; I'm still reading it precisely because I hope to at least get an overview of how Ajax works, but I will be looking at other texts to find out how actually to implement the many briefly mentioned concepts in this one. I was skeptical that a 350-page book would be able to present, in depth, any one of the three topics this one proposes to teach, and I was right. Longer books may seem more intimidating, but you can't cut out so much substance and expect to have anything helpful left. The book is not even worth keeping as a reference, there is so little explanation here.

Not In-depth, Just the Bare Minimal - 2008-10-18
Reviewer Rating:
This book provides the bare minimal knowledge/information required for you to get started using Ajax. This can be good or bad: if you want to get started quickly ( without learning too little ) than this might be for you, if you are looking for a in-depth ajax book, than this is not for you.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Programming

Sub-Categories:
Programming > Ajax
Programming > JavaScript
Programming > PHP