How many Ajax libraries/frameworks are in the mainstream right now?

Question

I'm trying to learn ASP.NET MVC and your first reaction might be to tell me I don't need to learn all the Ajax stuff to learn MVC. Fine, I get it. But I am not very confident if I don't know what's going on around me, i.e. in the environment surrounding my code.

Since my goal is to learn ASP.NET MVC, I first tried some examples, watched a few videos and read about 130 pages of a 590 book. And I kept poking in reflector to see what's happening behind the scenes.

Then, I quickly revised my CSS skills, and read a few tutorials on jQuery.

Now, I want to tackle Ajax. First of all, how many implementations of Ajax are in the mainstream today? Which ones are important for a Microsoft .NET developer?

I remember a few -- Microsoft ASP.NET Ajax is one, Atlas (is it different from ASP.NET Ajax or just a former code name for the project?), then there's ASP.NET MVC Ajax, I also see a bunch of JavaScript files in my ASP.NET MVC project that look like they have something to do with Ajax.

And there's built in support within jQuery to make ajax calls.

Can someone tell me:

a) How many Ajax frameworks are available from Microsoft?

b) Is ASP.NET Ajax the same as Atlas, which is the same as the Microsoft Ajax Toolkit?

c) What is ASP.NET MVC Ajax? Is it just those .js files in my ASP.NET MVC project or a separate library that I have to install?

d) Which one of these must I learn and how?

Answer 1

a) 1 b) Yes c) see b d) All of them and only one of them. e) You didn't ask but JQuery makes it really easy.

Answer 2

You should totally drop that and try jQuery :)

Beware

Answer 3

Microsoft shipped MVC 2 with both Microsoft AJAX and jQuery libraries. When you create a new MVC project from the template it includes both sets of javascript files. More than likely you only need 1 of them.

Your choice of library will be influenced by a number of factors, depending on what you want to get out of your learning. If you want to make yourself more employable and get web dev jobs then I would recommend you go with jQuery as it has gained mainstream adoption. If your goal is to get up a a few apps out asap and you know ms ajax then that would be the logical choice. There is no correct answer!

As far as I know Microsoft AJAX / MVC AJAX is the same as atlas, or an evolution of it.

Answer 4

If you're using ASP.NET MVC and are building it with the VS 2010/2008 templates then jQuery is going to be your default. And with reason. It has made JavaScript a wondrous dream rather than a magical string nightmare.

http://jquery.com/ - going to be a great online resource

http://www.amazon.com/jQuery-Action-Second-Bear-Bibeault/dp/1935182323/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280417239&sr=8-2 - Book I'm reading now.