Chapter 1. Introduction

Where, where lieth the fatally named, intractable Ajax?

Sophocles

Purely in terms of buzz, two of the hottest web-development terms in recent memory are Ajax and Rails. Ajax was just coined in February 2005, and seemingly overnight it sparked summits, workshops, books, and articles aplenty. At the beginning of that year, Rails was still a newborn getting scattered discussion in developers' weblogs. Almost two years later, it claims hundreds of thousands of downloads, nine slashdottings, two conferences, and tens of thousands of books sold.

Why all the noise? Are these technologies fads or worthy of lasting attention?

There are solid reasons to believe that both Ajax and Rails will be significant features of the web development landscape for some time. Big players are leading by example: Yahoo, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and IBM have all started using and touting Ajax techniques, and Rails has become so associated with web startups that it's almost cliché. And for each high-profile implementation, there are dozens created for smaller audiences or for internal use. As awareness of both technologies grows and they prove their value, the snowball will only roll faster.

Ajax on Rails is the definitive guide to where these two technologies converge.