As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been playing around with Atlas, Microsoft's implementation of AJAX for ASP .NET 2.0, recently and think its about time I started sharing some of my experiences with you guys.
For starters, AJAX stands for Asynchronous Javascript and XML and it's a term that is used to encompass a variety of technologies whose overall mission is to provide us "web-head" types with a platform via which we can add more fluidity and functionality to our web pages through asynchronous operations. From what I've seen so far, the combination of these technologies allows client-server communications to go on behind the scenes in an extremely fluid manner making the typical static web page operate in a more dynamic fashion, dare I say, similar to what you'd find in a Windows application. To be perfectly honest with you, the technologies being used in AJAX really aren't ground breaking or new; however, the basic premise AJAX is to wrap these various technologies into a single architecture that makes it easier to for us developers to create, standardize, and re-use web components that would benefit greatly from asynchonous operations.
If you're one of those brave souls who like to work with Beta implementations, feel free to visit the following site that has everything you need to get started: http://ajax.asp.net/
To begin working with Atlas, you'll need the following items installed in the order given below:
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Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Web Developer 2005
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ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0 Beta
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ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX CTP Beta
Naturally, the two AJAX installations can be obtained from the link I gave you above and, hopefully, you've already got Visual Studio 2005 already installed. If not, you might be able to get away with a Visual Studio Express Edition, but, unfortunately, I don't have confirmation on that. Anyway, give those installs a try so that you can work along with me as I experiment with this stuff. Next post, we'll start working with the basics and have some fun learning what this technology update can do...