Welcome to Particletree!

This is a pretty decent collection, but in no way a definitive list of Ajax elves to get you from refresh zero to remote scripting king.

TOOLKITS

• SAJAX - Sajax is like O negative blood, you can inject it into everyone. Can be used with PHP, Perl, Python, ASP, ColdFusion, Io, Lua and Ruby. They say Sajax does 99% of the work for you. I say it does more like 75%.

• Prototype object oriented Javascript - This is the corndog Ruby on Rails is helping to heavily develop. Also useful for any language willing to take the time to implement. Meaning it’s nice, but the sloth in you is not going to put up with it.

• CPAINT- Cross-Platform Asynchronous INterface Toolkit supports both PHP and ASP/VBscript. Aww, the ying and yang of languages can share code peacefully at the table of remote scripting.

• jpspan - JPSpan provides tools to “hook up” PHP and Javascript. To this end JPSpan allows you to define a class in PHP and call it’s methods directly (and remotely) from Javascript. They have math examples.

FRAMEWORKS

Ruby

• Ruby on Rails - You know that scene in Aliens when Sigourney Weaver puts on that giant robotic construction suit to beat some Queen Alien ass? Yeah, well using Ruby on Rails is sort of like that. If that metaphor fails you, here’s a good intro.

PHP

• AjaxAC - AjaxAC is an open-source framework written in PHP, used to develop/create/generate AJAX applications. They have a great article showing people how to use it to clone Google Suggest.

• CAKE - Cake is a lightweight framework for rapid development and easy maintanance of PHP web applications of any kind and level of complexity. Apparently, the person behind it used to be a designer. That’s what I’m talking about. Do it, you designer, you.

• Echo2 Web Framework - Echo2 is a reinvention of the Echo Web Framework built around an AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) rendering engine. It costs money, I believe, and so if you can get around that, go nuts.

.NET

.NET Framework can handle Ajax. Period. And so I give you articles on how and a quote from my girlfriend on our second date, “is you game or is you isn’t?”

• Ajax Was Here

• Ajax Wrapper

• Backbase

• AJAX in Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0

Perl

• CATALYST - Catalyst is a new MVC framework for Perl. It is currently under rapid development, but the core API is now stable, and a growing number of projects use it. That’s all I got. Here’s a Catalyst tutorial.

Python

• CherryPy - CherryPy is a pythonic, object-oriented web development framework. To get Ajax goodness out of CherryPy, you’ll want to look at CherrySmoothie. Sounds delicious, but I don’t speak Python and so I can’t give it a full endorsement.

Coldfusion

• CFAjax - CFAjax comes with simple to use JavaScript API and simple coldfusion implementation that marshal’s the response between your CF methods and HTML page. It seems nice. I guess. I don’t use ColdFusion. Enough said.