• Through the use of hands-on examples and case studies to explain complex technologies, this comprehensive book takes AJAX, Ruby on Rails, and Flash to the next level by combining them into a framework for developing rich Internet applications
• Walks readers through using all aspects of each application, looking at the overall architecture and then breaking down the client-side and server-side technologies, while still maintaining a focus on the desired functionality of an application
• Also includes coverage of such various technologies as DHTML, JavaScript, XSLT, Java, Python, PHP, and more

This book is also available as part of the 4-book JavaScript and Ajax Wrox Box (ISBN: 0470227818). This 4-book set includes:

• Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (ISBN: 0764579088)
• Professional Ajax 2nd edition (ISBN: 0470109491)
• Professional Web 2.0 Programming (ISBN: 0470087889)
• Professional Rich Internet Applications: Ajax and Beyond (ISBN: 0470082801)

From the Back Cover

Now you can provide users with the same rich experience and functionality on the web that they've become accustomed to on the desktop computer. This book will show you how to take AJAX and Ruby on Rails to the next level by combining numerous cutting-edge technologies in order to develop full-fledged web applications. It explores a number of frameworks and in-browser APIs while providing code for your own implementations.

You'll gain a thorough understanding of the underlying design principles behind professional Rich Internet Application (RIA) development and the various tools that are available to accomplish your design goals. You'll break down an application into client-side and server-side technologies, and you'll take advantage of key concepts such as mashups, auto-completion, and tagging for social sites.

What you will learn from this book

• How to develop RIAs in Java┬«, Ruby, and Python┬«

• Tips for enhancing your productivity and debugging your application

• Techniques for solving common issues in web applications when building a RIA

• All about the higher-level themes and development packages that build on top of RIA technologies

• How to develop, deploy, and control third-party access to your RIA

Who this book is for

This book is for software developers interested in practical solutions to real-world problems. You should have some familiarity with Python, Java, or Ruby on Rails.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

About the Author

Dana Moore is a division scientist with BBN Technologies and is an acknowledged expert in the fields of peer-to-peer and collaborative computing, software agent frameworks, and assistive environments. Prior to joining BBN, Dana was chief scientist for Roku Technologies, and a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories. Dana is a popular conference speaker, a university lecturer, and has published both articles for numerous computing publications, and books, including Peer-to-Peer: Building Secure, Scalable, and Manageable Networks and Jabber Developer Handbook. Dana holds a master of science degree in technology management from the University of Maryland, and a bachelor of science in industrial design, also from the University of Maryland.

Raymond Budd is a software engineer with BBN Technologies. He has designed, developed, and supported a variety of Web applications and other distributed systems in Java, Ruby, and Python. He has been published in several conference proceedings, such as the Eighteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, and journals, including Applied Intelligence. Additional areas of interest include knowledge representations, knowledge engineering, and distributed planning and scheduling. He received a bachelor of science degree in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Edward (Ted) Benson is a software engineer with BBN Technologies. His experience and interests include distributed programming frameworks, multi-agent systems, Web development, and knowledge representation. Ted has developed Web applications for several community groups and companies, and he has been published in IEEE conference proceedings on the subjects of distributed and multi-agent systems. He gradated summa cum laude from the University of Virginia with a bachelor of science degree in computer science.