In past i was intrigued by new mail notification feature in Outlook Web Access {tracking back OWA history} and kept wondering on technology behind that.
Enter Google Maps, everything changed after people coined term AJAX . Happen to learn concept of remote scripting in last project which used JSRS technique to get data for dropdowns and help text from server for controls. And i decided to look out for alternatives/options for this new wave (hype?) of web programming model. Ajax.NET Professional seems to be easier to use. But support to asp.net controls are limited, and when googling around that ended up in ASP.Net 2.0 Client Callback feature & Atlas April CTP, Expect Atlas to shadow the limited callback feature of asp.net 2.0
Here is a 18 mins video demo on Developing ASP.NET 2.0 Applications using "Atlas" by Scott G. Its kind-of Houdini show, when you see him write a Todolist web page and AJAX enabling the page, all under 18 mins and without writing a SINGLE line of javascript! I can understand why java community hates MS. Have time? See Atlas in action
From an architect point of view, Ajax usage may probably violate tiered approach and presentation tier code may end up spaghetti, isn't the idea of asp.net code behind model is to avoid this. Atlas overcomes this by providing a declarative programming model for Ajax and enabling use of asp.net server controls
I gotta give credits to MS for developing something like Atlas, even though its an alternative to Smart Client architecture that MS wants to use for rich web apps. But, I'd expect to use this in limited and for appropriate cases and i don't want follow Ajax bandwagon of creating single-page interface application in web, IMHO web apps are not supposed to work that way, rather leverage on Ajax features in cases where it demands like Google Suggest. To end with an interesting fact i happen to learn how Google prevents against excessive queries, mainLoop sets itself up to be called repeatedly using the javascript setTimeout function, instead of keydown events, handling fast typers on slow connections and also timeout interval between calls seems to be dynamic, adjusted according to how quickly the server responds.
