Steps to AJAX Mastery

Dietrich Kappe, Friday, June 16, 2006 @ 9:00 am

No, I wouldn't call myself an AJAX master, but, in the words of Laurence Peter, "A man doesn't know what he knows until he knows what he doesn't know." I definitely know what I don't know. And I do know a little (I've been around long enough to have written LiveScript, so I'm old in Internet years if nothing else), so I thought I'd share with you all the Javascript, CSS, XHTML and XSL reading I've done (and haven't done). Maybe you can share your own favorites in the comments.

Yes I've been a big proponent of Component GUI's and writing just Java in developing AJAX applications. Stay in one language and don't mess with CSS, Javascript or XHTML. Reuse the components that others have already written. That way lies productivity. There's only one problem with this approach: who is going to write the widgets and the framework in the first place? Someone has to write Javascript and CSS and XHTML, otherwise nothing will get done. As Billy Preston sang, "nothing from nothing leaves nothing."

So if someone has to write all those widgets, why not you? You know a little Javascript and have written a XPath expression or two. And your girlfriend really liked the CSS you put together for her homepage. So what's stopping you? Well, the truth is that having a passing familiarity with Javascript and the other technologies that make up AJAX is just not enough. Not even close. Your knowledge of Java may actually hurt you in this regard. You have to know this stuff cold to make it sing and dance.

My approach to learning any programming discipline has been as follows:

1. Read books, the right ones.
2. Read code, lots of it.
3. Write code, lots of it.

The Right Books

Where to start? Picking up a tome like Ajax in Action seems like a good place to start, but it's really just a crash course in those fundamental technologies you'll need, sort of like skipping over Calculus to take Algebraic Topology as a freshman, or, for those non-math geeks, trying to get a job in Paris after only one lesson in French. You need a better grounding.

In my opinion, the right place to start is by understanding the browser. That's because Javascript has two parts to it: Core and Client-Side. Client-Side is all of the browser specific stuff, so if you try to learn Javascript without understanding the browser, it's just jibberish. Get to know all you can about CSS and XHTML and XSL before you tackle Javascript and you'll save yourself a lot of pain.

I recommend starting with XHTML first, then move on to CSS. (The problem with some of the better books, as you'll find, is that they're a bit long in the tooth, i.e. they have publication dates from as far back as 2001.)

None of the books that I learned on for HTML/XHTML are still relevant. The fifth edition of the O'Reilly book HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide is so out of date and focused on old browser quirks that it's a sheer waste of time. My instinct is to stay away from something like the CSS and XHTML combo Head First book. At 658 pages, you'll be well into next year by the time you've read it all. As you'll find out, you've got plenty of reading to do. Plus the whole Head First series is annoying to read. Still, I'm not sure I have any better suggestions. Until AJAX came along, browser technology was considered uninteresting, so nobody published in that category.

For CSS I'd recommend two books: Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide and CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions. The second is a more advanced text, so read it after working through the first. You may also want to supplement your reading with CSS examples from the CSS Zen Garden. Also check out Open Source Web Design for some 1600+ examples. Finally, Position is Everything is likely to have more recent updates on browser quirks than any book you are likely to buy.

For XML/XSL, I'd recommend an old text (originally a Wrox book, now put out by APress): Beginning XSLT. Get the first one, not the 2.0 book. The examples in this book are not for the browser, so you'll also need some more info on how to do it in Javascript. For this, look to Professional JavaScript for Web Developers. Chapter 15 is probably the best intro to the topic in print.

Finally we've arrived at Javascript, for which I have two recommendations. The latest edition of the JavaScript Bible by Danny Goodman is still the definitive work. The other book is the ancient JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan. The latest edition is from 2001, but it really is the only book that deals with Javascript the language.

Only now that you've swallowed these tomes whole are you ready to move on to the Ajax in Action book. All those bits of jargon that were confusing before are now old hat. This book will fill in some of the missing pieces around XHR that those other Javascript books left out.

Now I've left out lots of other books that are useful and should probably be required reading. You should probably bone up on OOAD, an Operating System or two, a server-side development language, networking, etc.. My intent here was to give you a minimal set of books, not an exhaustive one. Even the books that I have recommended could be considered to be exhausting if not exhaustive. Anyone keeping score will have noticed that these books clock in at over 5700 pages. That's a lot of reading. That huge page volume, however, is simply a reflection of the fact that you are learning four different languages and combining them all together. Maybe you don't have to read all of those page, but even half that number is a commitment to many nights at home. I wish I could recommend small 100 page books on each subject that are more than simple "Hello World!" pamphlets. If anyone is aware of any, please let me know.

Reading Code

Books will only tell you so much. To really get a feel for how things are done -- best practices, so to speak -- you have to read code. Preferably good code. Avoid generated code like that produced from Tibco GI or GWT. Stick to hand-coded Open Source stuff like Prototype, Scriptaculous, Dojo and the like. At this point you'll probably know enough to decide for yourself what to read. There's a good book on how to read code, but I'll spare you another tome.

Make sure to get some tools so you can read and debug the code. I personally like the Firebug for spelunking around the DOM and Javascript, but there's a whole list of other tools available over at ajaxpatterns.org.

Writing Code

Now, five years later, you are ready to start writing some code. Use what you've learned. Good luck.

agile ajax

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