Every book tells a story—even a book about web programming. This story begins in the summer of 2005, at the Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. It was there that Microsoft gave us our first preview of Atlas, the original codename for ASP.NET AJAX. Excited about its promise, we immediately jumped at the opportunity to play around with the young and evolving framework. In the beginning (and we still do this today), we flocked to the forums, blogs, and user groups to learn, and in the process shape, the latest technology.

When Manning approached us about collaborating on this book, it seemed like a natural progression, considering all the time we had invested in learning about the framework. Our goal was to provide the reader with the tools for becoming a well-rounded ASP.NET AJAX developer. To us this meant becoming proficient in JavaScript, authoring Ajax-enabled controls, and understanding how to enrich ASP.NET applications through a collection of best practices and patterns. Along the way, we wanted to display our enthusiasm for what makes ASP.NET AJAX unique by sharing the lessons we had learned from the .NET community, our everyday jobs, and from Microsoft.

What makes ASP.NET AJAX in Action special (perhaps even irreplaceable) is its approach to explaining in detail how to use and understand the framework. Beginning with simple examples, we slowly progress to more complex, real-world scenarios that challenge the reader to master the technology and raise his or her skill level.

With the book now complete, our “story” has been told and we believe that we’ve achieved our goal in delivering a unique and thorough guide to ASP.NET AJAX. As you explore the book, it is our hope that you will become inspired to build the rich and intuitive applications that users expect today.