[geeklog-devel] AJAX and Javascript Libraries - request for comments

[Randy Kolenko]

> So, after only 4 posts I'm already counting recommendations 
> for 6 different JS libraries :-)
> 


Which is "a good thing"(tm) since it should allow the GL community to
pick the best one.
I vote for Jquery (not for any specific reason other than to make the
list of recommendations grow to 7 :-) )


> Which is why my original idea was to set up a GSoC project 
> "Find us an AJAX library" where we pre-select some candidates 
> and then the student would implement some tasks with each of 
> them to get a better idea what's working and what isn't.
> 
> Okay, so maybe a GSoC project would be overkill. Still, I'd 
> like to see us base a decision on something a bit more 
> substantial than "I'm familiar with it".
> 
> For example, how do these libraries compare on things like
> - security
> - footprint / overhead / load times
> - ease of use / learning curve
> 



What you list above is really the reason why there are so many different
libraries out there.  To balance and pick one out should really boil
down to the merits of each -- which is easily put into a matrix of sorts
to determine and weigh out what is most important to include, and
conversely, exclude from a GL distribution.

Using the biggest is not always the best, but so too is the exact
opposite of not using something big enough.

It would seem that we've all got some level of familiarity or expertise
with Ajax -- it would probably be in our best collective interest to
sort out the details of which library to use and come up with an
implementation strategy that could help us ride out a scenario where our
chosen library falls out of favour and has to be replaced with a
different one.

Just my $0.02 worth.

-randy