Ajax Shelflife
I was thinking the other day, all of the Ajax books are selling like hot cakes right now, moreso than the generic JavaScript books. This seems to me to indicate that there is a general misunderstanding about the relationship between JavaScript and Ajax. Given that, I’m wondering how long the buzzword Ajax will continue to sell books and headline conferences. My initial guess: another 12 to 18 months, max.
I’m sure you all remember the hype around web services that gripped the world about 18 months ago. Everything was about web services, and how they would change the software industry. In reality, it was a nice addition, but didn’t change a whole lot. Nevertheless, countless articles and books were sold on the topic. I believe that Ajax will go the same way, and eventually be re-enveloped into JavaScript, becoming a technique for using it instead of a breakthrough application architecture (which it seems to be touted as more and more).
Disclaimer: Any viewpoints and opinions expressed in this article are those of Nicholas C. Zakas and do not, in any way, reflect those of Yahoo!, Wrox Publishing, O'Reilly Publishing, or anyone else. I speak only for myself, not for them.
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3 Comments
Hi Nicholas,
What about new JavaScript book? It seems today there are more subjects to cover than ever. No time to rest :).
Alexei on February 23rd, 2006 at 10:00 am
Haha. I have a bunch of projects going on right now, but I have already talked to Jim about getting a second edition of Professional JavaScript in the works sometime soon.
Nicholas C. Zakas on February 23rd, 2006 at 10:40 am
I agree with you, bud.
Ajax is hot because it has a new name, but take out the server aspect, and all you have is JavaScript. JavaScript sends the request, JavaScript parses the server’s response, and JavaScript inserts the data into the page.
I’m not complaining, though =)
Jeremy on February 23rd, 2006 at 3:48 pm