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billbenson
11-24-2009, 12:39 PM
I've always steered away from client side stuff for the most part. I just saw a post that said AJAX can pull data from the db. If so, that makes it more interesting.

Anybody use ajax and if so, what do you use it for?

vangogh
11-24-2009, 02:44 PM
Ajax isn't a new technology, but rather a combination of a few things. Years ago Microsoft (yes Microsoft) introduced something into JavaScript that allows you to interact with a database without having to refresh the page. Ajax programming usually combines JavaScript, CSS, and the DOM on the client side and can connect to most any database through different server side languages.

Google Maps was one of the first big applications to use it or at least popularize it. When you drag the map to a new location the application is actually hitting the database to grab a new image, but the page doesn't need to refresh. Any of the webmail programs use Ajax to let you drag and drop and things like that. You don't necessarily notice it, but those drag and drops are making changes to the db.

billbenson
11-24-2009, 02:54 PM
Interesting VG. Didn't know that.

cbscreative
11-24-2009, 04:57 PM
My mom always used Ajax cleanser when I was a kid. I think we even used the Ajax dishwashing liquid too if I recall correctly.

Actually, I'm just experimenting to see if I can confuse the ad engine so they don't know what ads to post in this thread.

vangogh
11-24-2009, 05:16 PM
Bill here's the article than coined the phrase Ajax. It's from Jesse Garret of Adaptive Path. People had been doing all the things Ajax now is for a little while before the phrase, but once the phrase was out there it became the big thing

Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications (http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000385.php)

lav
11-25-2009, 05:23 PM
My mom always used Ajax cleanser when I was a kid.Haha you beat me to it CBS lol

rezzy
11-27-2009, 09:28 PM
Bill, I am not sure if you use Wordpress either, but alot of those menus are handled through ajax of some sort.

Ajax, has alot more abilities then meets the eye! I generally use the jQuery framework, as it makes cross browser compatibility easier. This is is another instance where browsers pass information different enough to get under your skin. jQuery is written to handle alot of the underground work, and jQuery uses CSS selectors to manipulate the dom.

MrGamma
01-09-2010, 12:28 AM
Bill, I am not sure if you use Wordpress either, but alot of those menus are handled through ajax of some sort.

Ajax, has alot more abilities then meets the eye! I generally use the jQuery framework, as it makes cross browser compatibility easier. This is is another instance where browsers pass information different enough to get under your skin. jQuery is written to handle alot of the underground work, and jQuery uses CSS selectors to manipulate the dom.

I am considering intergrating one of the javascript frameworks into some work but I am concerned over the incompatibilities from one library to the next. To be honest... I can't even understand why they would need to alter the behavior of JavaScript at all...

For instance I have heard that MooTools will not work with JQuery at all. I have also noticed that Mootools will completely alter the way your arrays behave. It's rather bizarre, but in any event, it has steered me clear from committing to any of them.

Does anybody have any opinions on the Dojo, Mochikit, or ExtJs libraries?

Why I’m moving from jQuery to ExtJs | Coder's Eye (http://coderseye.com/2007/why-im-moving-from-jquery-to-extjs.html)

Also... I would just like to mention that I spent a few hours with the whole Comet concept... To my knowledge it's completely bogus and simply does not work at all. However I could be wrong. has anybody gotten Comet to work at all?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_(programming)

vangogh
01-10-2010, 12:59 PM
The main idea behind all the JavaScript libraries is to make certain things easier. I don't really need to make use of js libraries a lot, but when I do I tend to use jQuery since it's so easy to use and also included with WordPress.

I don't know too much about the other libraries you mentioned, but here's a really good article comparing jQuery and Moo Tools (http://jqueryvsmootools.com/). It's a long article and the comments at the end are also useful.

MrGamma
01-10-2010, 04:10 PM
The main idea behind all the JavaScript libraries is to make certain things easier. I don't really need to make use of js libraries a lot, but when I do I tend to use jQuery since it's so easy to use and also included with WordPress.

I don't know too much about the other libraries you mentioned, but here's a really good article comparing jQuery and Moo Tools (http://jqueryvsmootools.com/). It's a long article and the comments at the end are also useful.

They ship jquery with MicroSoft visual studio as well...

Thank you for the article.

Google Trends: mootools, jquery (http://www.google.com/trends?q=mootools%2C+jquery)

I understand Jquery is by far the most popular. I just also understand the two are not compatible and one of them ships with wordpress while the other ships with joomla.

I will admit... I got stuck with a lightbox which was actually an extension of the prototype framework. Big mistake... it might be a framework but the second anybody gets into it, it turns into something completely different.

I am actually terrified of using any of them for the same reason. I am just worried it will be mashy non-maintable code in the end.

It would have been really nice if they made them so they were cross compatible. For all the talk about OOP and how it's supposed to do just that it would seem they did exactly the opposite.

vangogh
01-10-2010, 08:23 PM
I think there's stuff out there to convert jQuery code to Moo Tools code and vice versa. After all, both are JavaScript under the hood.

Wow I wouldn't have realized how much faster jQuery is growing had you not linked to Trends. jQuery does seem easier, especially since it's syntax is very css like. I think that's it's biggest selling point. The article I linked to made me think Moo Tools would be the better choice after you know both libraries, but for now I'm more familiar with jQuery.

I wouldn't worry about using either. The tangled code is likely more the developer who wrote the code than it was either library.