Homework 5-2-2008

[Lab]
1. Open NVu
2. Based on the code as in http://www.scottandrew.com/weblog/articles/dom_4 ,
write a code to generate the table of 9*9 products. (九九乘法表)

Hint: The javascript code should be enclosed by script tags.



[Reading] AJAX
A New Approach to Web Applications Jesse Garrett
AJAX 簡介 Brett McLaughlin

閱讀以上兩篇文章，整理成500字以上摘要。

Defining Ajax
Ajax incorporates:
1.standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS;
2.dynamic display and interaction using the Document Object Model;
3.data interchange and manipulation using XML and XSLT;
4.asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest;
5.and JavaScript binding everything together.

How Ajax is Different
1.An Ajax application eliminates the start-stop-start-stop nature of interaction on the Web by introducing an intermediary (an Ajax engine) between the user and the server.
2.This engine is responsible for both rendering the interface the user sees and communicating with the server on the user's behalf. So the user is never staring at a blank browser window and an hourglass icon, waiting around for the server to do something.
3.If it's submitting data for processing, loading additional interface code, or retrieving new data - the engine makes those requests asynchronously, usually using XML, without stalling a user’s interaction with the application.

Who's Using Ajax
Google is making a huge investment in developing the Ajax approach. All of the major products Google has introduced over the last year - Orkut, Gmail , the latest beta version of Google Groups, Google Suppest, and Google Maps are Ajax applications.

Moving Forward
The challenges are for the designers of these applications: to forget what we think we know about the limitations of the Web, and begin to imagine a wider, richer range of possibilities.