16. Ajax-Enabled Rich Internet Applications with XML and JSON

... the challenges are for the designers of these applications: to forget what we think we know about the limitations of the Web, and begin to imagine a wider, richer range of possibilities. It’s going to be fun.

—Jesse James Garrett

To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching.

—Henri-Frederic Amiel

It is characteristic of the epistemological tradition to present us with partial scenarios and then to demand whole or categorical answers as it were.

—Avrum Stroll

O! call back yesterday, bid time return.

—William Shakespeare

Objectives

In this chapter you will:

• Learn what Ajax is and why it’s important for building Rich Internet Applications.

• Use asynchronous requests to give web applications the feel of desktop applications.