Hello Satou,
I must admit I like your question! Why would anyone buy this book, when Ajax in Action is around?
I do agree that Ajax in Action is a great book! I have actually recommended it myself to a few people, and also mentioned in on my Amazon blog at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AH79D2LOG42RP/.
I guess we are lucky these books complement each other, and are not direct competitors! Here are a few details that can help a potential buyer which book is best for him or her:
- first of all, AJAX and PHP is aimed at beginning and intermediate developers, while (in my opinion) Ajax in Action is better suited for more advanced developers
- AJAX and PHP is perfect for people who enjoy learning by doing. It has a hands-on approach, teaching the theory by guiding you through many small examples in the first chapters, and then implement more complex features in the case study chapters
- AJAX is a server-agnostic technology, so anyone interested in AJAX can benefit from reading the book. However, AJAX and PHP takes special care, and offers more tips and techniques for PHP developers
- AJAX and PHP was also written with the developer upgrading existing websites in mind. Lots of websites could use a little bit of AJAX these days! If you want to add features such as AJAX form validation, suggest&autocomplete, implement better grids, chat, or SVG charts, you�ll find the answers directly in the book
I know this sounds a lot, but the area of applications that you can develop with AJAX is much larger. See the new Yahoo! Mail, for example � that IS complex, isn�t it? Well, if that�s the kind of AJAX application you want to develop,
you should probably take a look at Ajax in Action.
Hope this helped!
[ August 25, 2006: Message edited by: Cristian Darie ]