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HOME >> ZEICHICK'S TAKE

Zeichick's Take: Is AJAX still about Asynchronous JavaScript and XML?

By Alan Zeichick

March 27, 2008 — Like many technology writers and analysts, I treat AJAX as an acronym: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Conceptually, I think of AJAX as a specific type of rich Internet application, which uses JavaScript to invoke function calls, and which generally uses XML to deliver content using the XMLHttpRequest object.

But then this week, we received a letter from David Karr, who said in regard to the story, “All Sizzle and No Substance: AJAX for the sake of AJAX accomplishes little, experts say”:

“I wanted to comment that it's acknowledged in the Ajax community that AJAX really isn't an acronym anymore, because it's thought that the use of XML is not as important as the use of JSON. This development is similar to the de-acronymizing of SOAP, because the original acronym didn't make sense anymore.”

Of course, we at SD Times continue to think of SOAP as an acronym for “Simple Object Access Protocol,” even though we stopped spelling it out a while ago, just as we don’t always spell out what AJAX stands for anymore. In both cases, we prefer the all-caps versions too: AJAX, not Ajax; SOAP, not Soap. But that doesn’t negate the broader point that Mr. Karr is making: While AJAX is still asynchronous and JavaScript, is it still XML? Or is it basically about implementing JavaScript Object Notation asynchronously, and the data delivery format doesn’t matter?

That’s only one of the many questions regarding AJAX and RIAs. To some people, AJAX is generally synonymous with any 100% browser-based RIA that doesn’t require a rich media plug-in like Flash or Silverlight. To others (including fuddy-duddies like me), the JavaScript part is fundamental, but the XML part is generally implied but isn’t absolute.

What do you think? Write me at alan@bzmedia.com

Alan Zeichick is editorial director of SD Times. Read his blog at ztrek.blogspot.com.

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