Ajax: Ready for the Web

Like the ancient Greek who shared its name, an Ajax application can be a hero–but now in the fight against Web site mediocrity.

I guess it finally has happened. We have run out of TLAs–three-letter acronyms. You would think 17,576 unique combinations would be sufficient for techie buzz phrases but apparently not. The latest and greatest TLA is, in fact, an FLA (four-letter acronym). How do I know it is the latest and greatest? Because it already has a "Dummies" book devoted to it. Amazon has Ajax for Dummies for sale (actually, advanced sale–it will not be available until February 2006). I have a spot reserved for it on my bookshelf right next to Mensa for Dummies. The book description gushes, "Major Web players are already using Ajax to create a new generation of Web applications." Great. Is this similar to the Katie Couric effect (which is a bit like "if something is trendy enough to be mentioned on the Today show, it isn't trendy anymore")? Should we even be discussing a technology that has a Dummies book in a column called "Trends & Tech"? Why not? Ajax is an interesting amalgam of existing technologies and deserves a look.

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