Head Rush Ajax

welcome to the next level

369

It’s time to go back to elementary school. Remember

the days when differences were resolved with harsh words, ying sts,

and poor kung fu imitations? Remember when nothing thrilled your

soul like hearing “Fight!” screamed in the halls of the cafeteria? In this

chapter, we’re going back to those days, and leaving friendly words

and the golden rule behind. XML and JSON, two different formats

for sending and receiving data in your asynchronous requests, are

ready to let their differences be settled in the squared circle. Get your

scorecard ready, and let’s take it to the ring!

7

A Fight to the Finish

JSON versus XML

370

Chapter 7

Frank: Why do we need a new data format? Since we

went to XML, I think things are running better than

ever.

Joe: Well, maybe for you. But XML isn’t exactly easy

to work with for us JavaScript guys.

Frank: Why not? I thought that you were using the

Document Object Model to handle the XML my

scripts have been sending back to your requests.

Joe: Well, yeah, I have been...

Frank: Yeah, I saw that Top 5 CDs app you wrote. It

was sweet! And you only used the DOM? You must be

pretty good with that thing...

Joe: Oh, I love the DOM for working with web pages.

But it’s just a little clunky when it comes to XML. I

mean, I spend all my time moving up ...