Summary

This chapter was all about a quick introduction to the world of AJAX. In order to proceed with learning how to build AJAX applications, it’s important to understand why and where they are useful. As with any other technology, AJAX isn’t the answer to all problems, but it offers means to solve some of them.

AJAX combines client-side and server-side functionality to enhance the user experience of your site. The XMLHttpRequest object is the key element that enables the client-side JavaScript code to call a page on the server asynchronously. This chapter was intentionally short and probably has left you with many questions—that’s good! Be prepared for a whole book dedicated to answering questions and demonstrating lots of interesting functionality!