Development of web applications using AJAX

Web pages have traditionally lacked complex interactivity. The website model is mostly one way; content is delivered from a server to a web browser. Unless 3rd party software is used, this limits the interactivity and feedback of a website. AJAX is a unique meshing of pre-existing technologies that allows two way communications to occur between a web browser and a server, with no need to install additional software. This report investigates AJAX in a broad scope: what technologies are involved, what differing methods are there of developing with AJAX, what other aspects of development are involved with AJAX and finally some advanced concepts of its use. Throughout the report, various artefacts are developed to provide grounding in these areas; both for the purposes of exploring the technologies further and providing demonstrable aspects of them. Development of AJAX systems, ala "Ajax Engineering" is then reviewed, concluding that whilst AJAX is a powerful technology, it may not yet be mature enough for general deployment.