November User Group:: AJAX update

Without a doubt, the concepts behind AJAX are providing the catalyst to move the web from its old clunky "send it all back the server for an update" into the thick client "desktop" feel the average computer user has come to expect.

Earlier this year we heard from the AJAX community to get a primer and snapshot of where the technology sat (click here for a meeting summary). This time around we're going to listen to two more players in the AJAX space:

• Max Carlson - Co-Founder OpenLaszlo.org
  
  The Road to AJAX - In the past, OpenLaszlo been regarded as a Flash-only tool. In fact, OpenLaszlo is a powerful language for rich, custom declarative user interface programming that's been under development for over 5years. It's a powerful framework, and it has an exciting future as a single (OpenSource) language that can target Flash, DHTML and soon,other runtimes.
  
  In this talk Max will talk about the process of making OpenLaszlo a runtime-independent platform, including the first year of AJAX. He will ive an overview of the current multi-runtime architecture, includingtechniques for using and extending it. See an overview of the language, and talk about the future of OpenLaszlo as an AJAX platform.
  
  
• Alex Russell - President of the Dojo Foundation.
  
  Dojo - Dojo is the Open Source Javascript toolkit that makes professional web development better, easier, and faster. This talk will cover some of Dojo's core APIs, including those for Ajax, Drag and Drop, Animations, and AOP-style event handling. Alex might also discuss some of the stock widgets, various ways to take advantage of them, and how you can use Dojo's package system to help make your own code faster and more portable.

This should be a great opportunity to hear more about the technology and cut through all the hype to determine if AJAX is moving to prime time, or is it just another page in the browser wars (e.g. redundant code that conducts extensive checking of agent type in the HTTP header).

We're leveraging the presence of the AJAX Experience in Boston - please mark your calendars (note this not our normal date).

BostonPHP works in conjunction with BostonPHP Meetup, usually meeting the first Wednesday of every month for structured presentation at a local university or business location, and then typically moves on to a nearby restaurant/bar/pub for more informal discussion .