Which Ajax library do you use/recommend?

**wwb_99** · Jun 22, 2007, 04:28

I use MS Ajax these days. And, in the pre-Atlas days, I was using Ajax.NET. I also have some very lightweight stuff that does not use any Ajax framework at all.

**toasti** · Jun 22, 2007, 04:49

I use YUI and recently have started playing around with the EXT library. EXT is very cool:
http://extjs.com/

**Raffles** · Jun 22, 2007, 05:01

Stormrider, if you want to use jQuery's $(document).ready() with prototype, you could just add it yourself: http://dean.edwards.name/weblog/2006/06/again/

**jtrelfa** · Jun 22, 2007, 05:03

I use prototype/scriptaculous for several reasons:

Prototype offers many extensions to the core language that have proven to be invaluable.

For example, I used to wrote this:

Code:

for (var i = 0, len = arrayName.length; i < len; ++i) {
  //do a bunch of stuff
}

With prototype, I can replace it with this:

Code:

arrayName.each(function(elem) {
  //do stuff
})

The beautiful part of that isn't so much the ease of writing, it's also easier to 'read' the code.

In addition, you can string stuff together so that a function that produces an array will have the .each method available:

Code:

$A(document.getElementsByTagName("a")).each(function(elem) {
  elem.onclick = alert(elem.href);
});

How much easier can it get?

**damian34** · Jun 22, 2007, 05:08

dojo is a great concept but too slow and too buggy, alot of the controls aren't complete or they change from version to version.

jQuery and Prototype definately win hands down for code quality, implementation and ease of use.

jtrelfa: if you like those features of prototype you may also like jQuery which can achieve similair things like

Code:

$('a').click(function() {
  alert($(this).href);
});

you could also extend a to only process those with a certain class, 'a .myclass', etc.

**jtrelfa** · Jun 22, 2007, 05:24

very cool, damian34 - I've used jquery for a couple of projects and I like it! I only use it when I need quick and easy page-oriented stuff. When I have to do some heavy-hitting code (behind the scenes stuff), I prefer prototype's sugar.

**Stormrider** · Jun 22, 2007, 06:05

Just realised my error from earlier, using jQuery again now - prototype didn't quite have everything I needed!

**jscheel** · Jun 22, 2007, 06:51

Just wanted to add my support to jQuery. It is really an awesome js library.

**kyberfabrikken** · Jun 22, 2007, 07:07

Originally Posted by jtrelfa

Code:

arrayName.each(function(elem) {
  //do stuff
})

How much easier can it get?

Code:

forEach(arrayName, function(elem) {
  //do stuff
})

**gnarly** · Jun 22, 2007, 07:09

Originally Posted by Contrid

If I were to develop plugins for Wordpress using a JS library, should I rather try to understand and learn Prototype?

Wordpress is transitioning over to JQuery for future versions (at least in the back end), so I think you'd be better off targeting that: http://www.siolon.com/2007/the-trans...for-wordpress/

Personally, I quite like Mootools, and Dean Edwards' Base2 library.

**malikyte** · Jun 22, 2007, 07:34

I like how small MooTools is. I like the power behind YUI. I have begun to fall in love with the examples from Ext JS and have thought about purchasing a developer's license.

Anyone that's tried Ext JS, do you have any comments on its use? Easy to understand/get started with? How's the documentation (not the tutorials/screencasts, but the actual docs)?

**soapergem** · Jun 22, 2007, 08:45

Personally I use a combination of X and my own custom functions. I love X because it's very minimalistic and intuitive; you only take what you need and it's easy to work with.

**mcsolas** · Jun 22, 2007, 09:09

I have never used any of them yet. I have only recently been interested in learning about spry, and only because I see in dw cs3 there is a lot of form elements and things that mention making use of this...

edit: found a nice form validation demo. A review of the code used

**Gibberish** · Jun 22, 2007, 09:20

Another vote for JQuery. It's simple, easy to integrate, and has a nice collection of plugins. You can also easily make your own plugins.

**BrandonK** · Jun 22, 2007, 09:49

I started with Prototype a long time ago and it was nice, but very large. Then I moved on to moo.fx and liked it a lot. We had some issues with compatibility, and learning the package wasn't that easy, so I moved over to jQuery. I absolutely love it. Writing code is simple and doesn't require much documentation because it's almost in plain english... visualjquery.com is also extremely helpful for some quick documentation lookup.

(it also doesn't hurt that John Resig is the team leader)

**Force Flow** · Jun 22, 2007, 10:01

Would the Google Web Toolkit be a viable option? I haven't tried it out yet, but it's advertised as being able to generate javascript/AJAX code that cross-browser compatable.

**Young Twig** · Jun 22, 2007, 11:26

I've used moo.fx, and I know they have an AJAX library as well.

jQuery looks interesting.

**Dan Grossman** · Jun 22, 2007, 16:21

I used to use YUI.

Now I use Prototype/Scriptaculous, because that's what Symfony includes. Symfony's JavaScript libraries abstract away the underlying implementation, so I don't need to know anything about how Prototype works, and could swap it out for another library with the same functionality later.

**bluefooz** · Jun 22, 2007, 20:29

I'm using jQuery.

I'm a beginner, don't know much about JavaScript nor Ajax, yet I'm able to do requests, manipulation, and some fancy stuff with jQuery. That is clearly something.

Originally Posted by Raffles

Stormrider, if you want to use jQuery's $(document).ready() with prototype, you could just add it yourself: http://dean.edwards.name/weblog/2006/06/again/

I wish there's an official compilation from Dean for all the inputs there. I'm quite confused after reading all the comments.

**eldacar** · Jun 23, 2007, 20:43

I use my own at the moment, but when base2 gets XHR support I'll use that.

I wish there's an official compilation from Dean for all the inputs there. I'm quite confused after reading all the comments.

http://dean.edwards.name/weblog/2006...ll#comment5338 That seems to be the best.

**codeTweaker** · Jun 24, 2007, 00:30

Hi I'm a newbie to javascript and I tried jQuery. Its really easy to use. It works like magic

I also had a looked on YUI. It has good set of javascript GUI.

**Fenrir2** · Jun 24, 2007, 13:06

mootools is very good too.

**web_dev** · Jun 24, 2007, 16:54

I recommend prototype js library. They have nice documentation and easy to begin with. You can find tons of tutorials on the net to get started with prototype. I totally recommend that.