book learnin'

Wanting to learn more about this I have been reading up at a great site; Ajaxian, as well as others. I have also been educating myself on some of the libraries that are popping up as well; mootools, GWT, YUI and more so that I can begin extending my programming skills with the most appropriate solution for my business and my clients' needs.

The first book I bought was Javascript and Ajax for the Web, by Peachpit Press. The Visual Quickstart series of books is a great library for any programmer to have on their shelf (I own about a half dozen of these) because they present the information in clearly defined steps with screenshots that corresponds the environment that the reader will most likely be working within. They were also the first, to my knowledge, that included Mac specific instructions for programmatic instruction.

The next book I picked up is O'Reilly's Head Rush Ajax. First off, the Head Rush series of books is a great way to learn some of these technologies. It provides simple explanations of complex concepts in a manner that is easy and approachable for any skill level.

The last book I picked up in my Ajax trifecta was Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and Ajax from Apress. This book, I grabbed for its reputation in the industry.

With these books, and many more I am sure, I am hoping to be able to not only develop more immersive sites, but also provide better custom solutions for my clients' needs. I will get more detailed reviews later, as well as tutorials based on this new knowledge.