Web Information System - Essay Example

AJAX and ActionScript are both popular technologies for developing asynchronous web applications. However, programmers often argue about one technology being superior to the other and therefore, questions like, which technology is better and why, or pros and cons of both technologies, have been highly debated in last few years. This research debates on this similar issue and for sake of clarity, I put forward the exact question that says: describe and compare the AJAX technology for building asynchronous applications for the Web with another similar technology - i.e., ActionScript?

AJAX, an acronym for ‘Asynchronous JavaScript and XML’, describes the usage of various existing Web technologies, such as, HTML, JavaScript, XML and many more, to create web applications which can communicate with the server asynchronously to fetch only the relevant part of data required to update the page in response to the submitted user actions (Powell, 2008). ActionScript, a part of Flex framework, is a strongly typed ECMA complaint scripting language for building robust RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) that delivers immersive experiences and provides great interactivity and user engagement similar to Ajax-style applications (Franco, 2008).

In his paper, Flex vs. AJAX: Friends or Foes?, Franco (2008) has presented a comprehensive comparison of the important features of AJAX frameworks with ActionScript in the form of matrix as mentioned below: Both technologies have their own benefits and limitations, and honestly speaking, it is very difficult to decide when to use what technology. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the developer to fit in the right technology after figuring out the problem to be solved. AJAX is mostly used by organizations to improve and modify their existing online applications incrementally, while, ActionScript is considered ideal for large-scale deployments where scalability, user experience, and performance are the highest