Not your grandfather’s Javascript … looks like Nicholas Zakas’s Professional JavaScript for Web Developers is now out. This is great news, as the book’s editor - Jim - noted that there’s an AJAX chapter in there. Well, he, qualifies, “OK, not exactly. What he wrote for that book is chapter 16 “Client-Server Communication” (see the full TOC here) which is all about AJAX principles without actually using that term not coined until a couple of months ago.”

I’m about to order it and looking forward to it. With AJAX coming on strong, Javascript will only get bigger and bigger. So it’s time for the eternal optimists to swallow the pill and learn how to do it the right way. This book will do well: advanced Javascript texts are rare, and, as far as I can see, nothing has been published for several years. Given all the recent browser updates, that alone is enough reason to get hold of it.

BTW, there’s been a great response to the AJAX podcast in the past couple of weeks. I’ll mention more in my next podcast, but for now, one thing’s pretty clear: by the end of the year, AJAX is confirmed as the buzzword of ‘05.