AJAX and J2EE

Anyone who has used google maps or gmail would certainly have noticed their responsiveness is far better than most other websites. And if you are a developer, it is highly likely that you have heard about AJAX is used to "power" these websites through.

So what is AJAX? Simply put, AJAX is a way for making asynchronous calls to the server using a new object named XmlHttpRequest. Coupled with XML technology, we have an effective programming tool for web applications. Hence, the name "Asynchronous JavaScript and XML". IBM developerworks has a series of articleson AJAX which discusses in better detail about how AJAX works, Mastering Ajax, Part 1: Introduction to Ajax is the first one in the series and seems to be worth following. This is an essay by Jesse James Garrett on AJAX.

So how does AJAX work with J2EE? Being Javascript based, AJAX can be used in conjuction with any web application platform be it J2EE or .NET. Philip McCarthy wrote a series of articles "AJAX for Java Developers" that introduce AJAX to Java developers they are titled, Building Dynamic Java Applications, Java object Serialization for AJAX and AJAX with Direct Web Remoting. Sun has a section in the Java blue prints on AJAX with Java Server Faces (JSF). This is only a start. We will be seeing many framworks for building AJAX enabled web applications with Java. AJAX patterns site has lists a few Java based frameworks for AJAX.