Ajax - What is it really?

So, when people first hear about AJAX, what do they really think it is? Well, currently it's the latest buzzword in the tech world. It's stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML2. But what if you didn't know that? What would you think about?

Here are a few things that might have come up:

• Ajax was a Greek hero from the Trojan War stories -


• AJAX is a vehicle type from Robotech -


• The Nike Ajax surface-to-air missile -


• Ajax, the cleaner -


• Ajax, the video game from Konami -

Wow, I hope you get down here. =) The Ajax I'm interested in is the one I first mentioned above. This a relatively new technology that have spawn quite a few of cool web applications. Do you use Gmail? Perhaps you've seen Google Maps. I've also heard of companies developing simple MSOffice-like web applications. It looks like this is taking off. While it's not the best because of it's dependences on JavaScript which is a security problem and not all browsers support it, it is still getting the job done.

A while back, I mentioned that I would start looking at making a MUD. I think the second part of that is to create a client application using Ajax. Now that would be cool. That would be cool. :) All I need now is a swift kick in the ass to put me down this path.