What I Hate About Web 2.0
Some of this Web 2.0 nonsense is slowly starting to get to me. One of the most irritating things about this phenomenon is the way that people equal JavaScript and ”Ajax”.
Not only is AJAX an acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML and therefore should be capitalized, but it also does not mean any possible thing and technique that has something to do with JavaScript.
For example, John Resig (of the jQuery fame) recently made a brilliant port of the Processing visualization language to JavaScript and Canvas. It was soon promoted on Digg.com with a title Amazing Ajax Animation Engine. (Yes, Digg users are not as tech-savvy as Slashdotters and don’t know better but it’s not just Digg.com)
The saddest thing about this is that I’m fairly certain that this is something that is not going to go away. Ever. It’s like the Java != JavaScript thing again.
3 comments
AJAX as an acronym has pretty much fallen out of favour, since it's not a very good acronym - most Ajax doesn't use XML, and it's possible to do Ajax without being asynchronous and indeed without using JavaScript (if you really want to be picky). I've been using Ajax not-an-acronym to describe "any technique that enables client to server communication without a full page refresh" and I find it extremely useful. I do get annoyed when people use Ajax to describe JavaScript that doesn't involve client-server communications though.
Simon, You're absolutely right -- AJAX is not good acronym because most Ajax doesn't use XML. Also, using 'Ajax' as not-an-acronym for meaning client to server (XMLHttpRequest) communication sounds good.
I guess I'm just one of those people who get annoyed when people talk about Ajax (or Java) when they really mean JavaScript.
The first person to coin the word Ajax for "Asynchronous JavaScript and XML", Jesse James Garrett if I don't recall wrongly said himself that it should be spelt "Ajax" instead of "AJAX"
Therefore spelling "Ajax" is correct & "AJAX" is not.
You have to respect the inventor of the term since he wants it that way. That what I believe.