JavaScript and Ajax Wrox Box: Professional JavaScript for Web Developers, Professional Ajax, Pro Web 2.0, Pro Rich Internet Applications, 2nd edition
Authors: Nicholas C. Zakas, Jeremy McPeak, Joe Fawcett, Eric van der Vlist, Danny Ayers, Erik Bruchez, Alessandro Vernet, Dana Moore, Raymond Budd, Edward Benson
Venue:  (2007)

Wrox's 4-book value set on everything related to JavaScript web development contains more than 2400 pages for professional web developers. The 4 books included are: Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (ISBN: 0764579088) Professional Ajax 2nd edition (ISBN: 0470109491) Professional Web 2.0 Programming (ISBN: 0470087889) Professional Rich Internet Applications: Ajax and Beyond (ISBN: 0470082801) Professional JavaScript for Web Developers: JavaScript is an important feature of every major browser because it enables enhanced user interaction on both Web sites and Web applications.You'll gain a clear understanding of the components that make up a JavaScript implementation, plus you'll examine critical areas including events, regular expressions, and browser detection techniques so you can build dynamic user interfaces. You'll learn how to extend the language to meet your specific requirements as well as create seamless client-server communication without intermediaries such as Java or hidden frames. What you will learn from this book: ECMAScript basics, object-oriented programming techniques, and important Document Object Model (DOM) concepts;Methods for handling events to tie JavaScript to a Web user interface; Techniques for validating data, sorting tables, and dealing with errors; How to communicate between JavaScript and browser plugins; All about security issues, optimization, and intellectual property protections Professional Ajax 2nd Edition provides a developer-level tutorial of Ajax techniques, patterns, and use cases. The book is written for Web application developers looking to enhance the usability of their web sites and web applications and intermediate JavaScript developers looking to further understand the language. Readers should have familiarity with XML, XSLT, Web Services, PHP or C#, HTML, CSS. This book is not aimed at beginners without a basic understanding of the aforementioned technologies. Also, a good understanding of JavaScript is important to understanding this book. Some of the topics covered here include: Ajax Libraries including the Yahoo! Connection Manager, Prototype, and jQuery; Request Management with Priority Queues and the RequestManager Object; Comet push-based web systems and HTTP streaming; Maps and Mashups with Geocoding, Google Maps API and Yahoo! Maps API; Ajax Debugging with FireBug and Microsoft Fiddler; ASP.NET AJAX Extensions; the range of request brokers (including the hidden frame technique, iframes, and XMLHttp) and explains when one should be used over another; different Ajax techniques and patterns for executing client-server communication; Ajax patterns including predictive fetch, page preloading, submission throttling, incremental field and form validation, periodic refresh, multi-stage download and more;JSON and creating an autosuggest textbox example; web site widgets for a news ticker, weather information, web search, and site search; Ajax Frameworks JSpan, DWR, and Ajax.NET Professional;and two case studies Professional Web 2.0 Programming: Web 2.0 architecture opens up an incredible number of options for flexible web design, creative reuse, and easier updates. Along with covering the key languages and techniques of Web 2.0, this unique book introduces you to all of the technologies that make up Web 2.0 at a professional level.You'll find code for several example applications built with popular frameworks that you'll be able to utilize. What you will learn from this book: How Web 2.0 applications are developed; New ways to get the major client-side technologies to work together; The new class of emerging tools; All about HTTP and URIs, XML, syndication, microformats, and Web Services; Techniques for implementing and maintaining your URI space;Steps for building mashups to aggregate information from multiple sources; Methods for enhancing security in your applications Professional Rich Internet Applications: AJAX and Beyond: This book will show you how to take AJAX and Ruby on Rails to the next level by combining numerous cutting-edge technologies in order to develop full-fledged web applications. It explores a number of frameworks and in-browser APIs while providing code for your own implementations. You'll gain a thorough understanding of the underlying design principles behind professional Rich Internet Application (RIA) development and the various tools that are available to accomplish your design goals. You'll break down an application into client-side and server-side technologies. What you will learn from this book: How to develop RIAs in Java, Ruby, and Python; Tips for enhancing your productivity and debugging your application; Techniques for solving common issues in web applications when building a RIA; All about the higher-level themes and development packages that build on top of RIA technologies; How to develop, deploy, and control third-party access to your RIA