Ajax Design Patterns by Michael Mahemoff (Score 1)

I think Mahemoff does an excellent job on "Ajax Design Patterns". He is clearly well schooled in the traditional design patterns of Gamma et al and does an excellent job using a similar spirit vis a vis Ajax. He covers an impressive number of sites, many of whom I would never have heard about if it were not for his diligent research. He has a catalog of the specific patterns he covers such as Ajax App, Ajax Stub, Browser-Side Cache, and Data Grid. However, the actual book is organized in five main areas beginning with a great intro to basic Ajax (the section "Anatomy of a Server Call" is particularly good). After the intro the other areas covered are (1) Foundational Technology Patterns (including web remoting); (2) Programming Patterns, with a great intro to web services and clarity on what qualifies as a Restful service and why it is popular + DOM + code generation; (3) Functionality and Usability Patterns (widgets, page architecture, visual effects, etc); and (4) Development Patterns (diagnosis, testing). He spends a great deal of time discussing the tradeoffs in the performance of Ajax calls and even has a link to a back of the envelope calcs of the latency of ajax calls. It's filled with all sorts of neat Ajax tricks to optimally give the illusion of continuity as the user browses over a large dataset (eg in maps). Lots of technologies are covered in sufficient detail and really anyone with enough interest can understand it. This is just a solid programming/engineering book period. When I read a book like this I am awed at the power of the individual to organize. I would have taken ages to dig up Ajax related stuff here and there (and even in many books I perused), but when I found this book I was like, "Ok, I've found my guide!". You can't go wrong buying this book. At each step he brings attention back to the underlying pattern and when one understands the pattern , one is freed from the details just as the Gamma et al authors intended. So, fellow coders, this may be another book to add next to your desktop coding bibles (Gamma et al, etc...). Enjoy....