Chapter 2. Client-Side Techniques with Smarter JavaScript

It is said that one picture is worth a thousand words. And so is a well-written piece of code, we would say. You will get plenty of both, while building the foundations for your future AJAX‑enabled applications, in this chapter and the next.

Hopefully, the first chapter has developed your interest in AJAX well enough that you will endure a second chapter with lots of theory to be learned. On the other hand, if you found the first exercise too challenging, be assured that this time we will advance a bit slower. We will learn the theory in parts by going through many short examples. In this chapter, we will meet client AJAX technologies, which include:

• JavaScript

• The JavaScript DOM

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

• The XMLHttpRequest object

• Extensible Markup Language (XML)

You will learn how to make these components work together smoothly, and form a strong foundation for your future AJAX applications. You will see how to implement efficient...