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Asked: 2026-05-28T01:47:27+00:00

I was wondering if it is worth learning javascript first? Does AJAX require Javascript

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I was wondering if it is worth learning javascript first? Does AJAX require Javascript in anyway or is it just similarities in the markup language?

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  1. Editorial Team

    First, learn the basics of JavaScript. It’s a programming language, not a markup language. You don’t need to become an expert immediately, but learn the basics — what it is, the basic structures (functions, control flow statements, variables, objects, etc.), that sort of thing.

    Ajax is a technique for retrieving data in a web page without refreshing the full content of the page (or indeed, any of it if you don’t want to). You perform Ajax operations (sending a request, interpreting the response) using JavaScript and some other things, such as the XMLHttpRequest object. Ajax isn’t a part of JavaScript. They’re just used together in the web environment.

    (Side note: Although Ajax stands for “Asynchronous JavaScript and XML”, the XML part of that is optional; you can do “Ajax” without using XML and in fact, many if not most people do. Ajax lets you send and retrieve all kinds of data, including XML but also including HTML, JSON, plain text, and lots of other stuff.)

    Some references that may be useful:

    • JavaScript:
      • The Mozilla JavaScript pages
      • JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan (yes, an old-fashioned paper book)
      • Crockford’s articles on JavaScript (a bit advanced, wait ’till you’re ready). Crockford is smart and knowledgeable, but not everyone agrees with all of his conclusions. (I don’t.) But it’s good to read and understand his points, and make your own decisions. He’s mostly right, most of the time.
      • My own anemic little blog (start with the oldest entries and work forward)
      • The ECMAScript specification (PDF | handy HTML version)
    • The DOM
    • (Speaking of which) The HTML5 specification. Parts of it are just codifying what web browsers actually do right now; other parts of it specify new stuff. Mostly you can tell which is which by checking whether the thing in question is part of HTML4. If it is, then likely the HTML5 spec tells you what browsers mostly do today. If it isn’t, then it’s new and browser support may be perfect, or may be non-existant. 🙂
    • The API docs for the library you choose. There are several good ones: jQuery, Prototype, YUI, Closure, or any of several others. (jQuery is the most widely-used at present.)
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