AJAX meeting brief 1 Dec20 '05

I’ve been in the process of setting up an "AJAX meeting," where "like minds" would get together to form a complete picture of AJAX techniques, in combination with a server-side scripting language, such as PHP, ASP, or JSP.

Meeting overview

The goal of this meeting is to put all the pieces of AJAX together, and have everyone leave the meeting with a full understanding of AJAX techniques - to use immediately in their own work.

The reason for this meeting stems from the "disassociation" that AJAX is presenting developers. It’s that "white elephant" in the room, because we all know what it can do - but we try to ignore it’s presence, for now. And, as we develop things like form controls, we can hear the "AJAX elephant" calling to us: "It would be so much more smooth if you used AJAX." (sneaky, suspicious voice)

And, frankly, I’m tired of "sitting on it." I want to learn this, once and for all. And, truthfully, it’s not really "learning" anything. JavaScript and XML are two things I know pretty well. So, why is it so hard to "combine the two?"

It shouldn’t be this hard. So... with the help of others (who hopefully feel the same urgency to learn AJAX, as well), I hope the phrase "multiple minds are better than one" proves itself.

Of course, there are articles and tutorials already on the web, but they just don’t seem to be working for me. I think it would be so much easier to "talk it through" with others.

Meeting details

Location

Ideally, I’d like to get everyone in a quiet conference room, or library, or basement - and just sit there, all day, all night - however long it takes, and "hash out" all of the details.

The first problem with this is that people are scattered all over the world. So, meeting physically just won’t work, for the time-being.

The next best thing is to meet via instant messenger, or some kind of internet phone service (namely Skype).

I don’t have much experience with Skype, so that would be something new for me. And just using instant messenger might not be enough - so I think, in order to enhance the experience for all involved, Skype would be an effective tool.

There’s just something about speaking, interjecting, and refuting points that makes the learning experience so much more real. (Let me know if I don’t have a clue of what I’m saying about Skype)

Date and time

Since it’s the busy holiday season, it might be best to wait until after the new year, to hold this meeting.

The details on the date and time are obviously still pending.

Web site

I expect to have a web site set-up with the meeting details, and some other important information. The web site might also contain some "sandbox" pages, where each attendee can test things out (I still haven’t figured this part out, yet). This could be possible with straight-forward browser authentication, or even assigning everyone unique log-ins via FTP.

Pre-requisites

As I mentioned before, I’ve already contacted a few people regarding this meeting, and I’ve received some positive responses.

I’d like this meeting to be open to anyone interested, but I’m doubting I’ll get much response, from just this blog post. So, I’ll be sending out emails as well - and if by chance, you see this post, and you want to be involved, just drop me an email, or leave a comment here.

Just take note of what you’ll be in for, if you decide to take part. Below are some pre-requisites for attending this meeting:

Required:

• Familiarity with general web development techniques (HTML, and the ability to set up a web site from scratch)

Helpful (but not required):

• Experience with a server-side scripting language (such as PHP, ASP, JSP, etc.)
• Experience with JavaScript
• Experience with SQL

As you can see, I’d like to keep this meeting as open-ended as possible - but I still want to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Managing time is what’s important here, and I need everyone to be "up to speed," so we’re not wasting time on other details.

Final thoughts

I’m intent on making this meeting as informative and helpful as possible. I don’t want to rush into it. I want to make sure everything is set, and that the meeting goes smoothly, and that everyone leaves satisfied.

More details will be posted on this blog, in the very near future.

Categories: Events , Web Development

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