Comparisons of Ajax libraries

Question

Can anyone point to a good unified comparison of various AJAX libraries? I've read about a dozen different ones, I'm about to start a project, and I'm just not confident I've explored the space of possibilities yet.

PLEASE NOTE I'm not asking for "I think XXX is great" -- I'm looking for good thorough comparisons. Oh, and the probability that I'll use .NET or ASP.NET is very small; I don't have any Microsoft environments available and i'm not rushing out to get one.

Okay, what's behind this is that I have several small applications I want to build. they're all more or less game-like, and not all that complicated, with part of the point being to get some experiencce with AJAX and DHTML. I suspect any of the major packages will work, like Rico, Scriptaculous, or Dojo.

I'll be looking for a couple of things: graphics, either via SVG or Canvas, and the ability to drag&drop icons as pieces. Beyond that, who knows? But I would like to have enough information to make a good start in one rather than having to hack about trying several.

Answer 1

Honestly, comparing ajax frameworks is difficult, and it's impossible to get a thorough comparison. Some are base libraries that extend js, like prototype. others, like jQuery, extend the dom and make manipulation easier. Others still are js UI frameworks, like Dojo or extjs. There are also server-side oriented platforms and wrappers (Jayrock, parts of ms-ajax, and parts of RoR).

If you are going with the MS route, I would look into the WCF REST stack, the MS Ajax client libraries, and jQuery, which will give you a good support path, I know you don't want an X is great response, but need more info to give you a better answer. Are you looking for the pieces, combination of parts, or all in one application, and component solutions? What you are asking is like asking for a good comparison of bread, narrow it down.

Answer 2

http://www.dannydouglass.com/post/2008/04/Comparing-Popular-JavaScript-Frameworks.aspx

http://chandlerproject.org/bin/view/Projects/AjaxLibraries

http://www.devx.com/AJAXRoundup/Article/33209

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/javascript-library/

The last three don't include jQuery.

Answer 3

Just as an alternative to the large libraries, see the Fork Javascript library, namely FORK.Ajax -- simple and it works nicely. For dealing with JSON notation: I prefer Doug Crockford's json2.js over FORK.Json. (dealing with JSON is much easier than XML from the javascript side.)

Answer 4

I've used both moo.fx and jQuery for AJAX in the past, both are very effective. moo has a very small footprint which is good and it also has quite a lot of graphics functionality in the base package. However if your looking to do a lot with javascript jQuery has more features and is very well documented.

There is drag & drop functionality in both as well

http://demos111.mootools.net/DragDrop

http://ui.jquery.com/demos/droppable