Ajax is often mistaken for a programming language, when in reality it is more of a standard or technique used to create better, more interactive web applications. It is used to create more responsive web pages by loading certain areas of a page, instead of an entire page. In this tutorial, and the ones that follow, we will learn to work with it to build dynamic web sites.
I'm sure you all know of the mythological figure Ajax? No? How about Ajax the Lesser, who was given the smack down by Poseidon and his trident? Ajax the cleaner? Ah there we go.
Asynchronous techniques can be dated back to the days of DHTML, or even earlier with the src attribute. It could be used to load JavaScript into a page, mimicking some of the AJAX type effects. Remote Scripting, introduced in 1998 by Microsoft, acted as a replacement for these techniques, using Java applets to give the client side the opportunity to communicate via JavaScript. Later on Microsoft would go on to create the XMLHttp Request with its release of Internet Explorer 5.
Then finally, in 2005 (I've skipped a little bit of history to ensure you stay awake), Google popularized Ajax techniques with its Google Suggest in an effort to rule the world. Now today, a short three years later, we are all slaves to the Lord and Master Goog. It commands and we search. All Hail the Goog!
AJAX & Prototype 
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