Richard makes some good points in PB&J: The Flex-Ajax Bridge that I’d like to follow up on a bit:

[Re: Ajax] More importantly, there are something like 50 open source libraries to choose from. Which one do you choose?

The swarm of Ajax libraries is a hard problem, but an exiciting opportunity too. It reminds me of the early days when there were 15-20 EJB containers. How do you pick a library? Here’s some tips:

• You gotta know JavaScript. Deeply and thoroughly. JavaScript is not Java, nor is it similar. I’d rather have a bunch of good JavaScript programmers and pick the wrong library, than a bunch of bad JavaScript programmers pick the right one.
• When choosing a library, consider excellent development process at least as important as corporate backing. Look at the winners and losers in Enterprise Java—it strikes me as a rough split between established players and newcomers who executed well. Ajax will be the same, and some new big names will emerge.
• But how do I evaluate the development process of closed-source frameworks? Hmm… Nuff said.
• Pick something with ties to a strong server-side stack.
• Can you just recommend something? Sure: Prototype, Scriptaculous, and Dojo. That’s what we use, and what we teach people to use. Are they the best? Dunno—but they score well on all the criteria above.

Richard goes on to say:

Now to the point about the Flex-Ajax bridge developed by Ely Greenfield. In my opinion, this bridge is the single most important advancement in Ajax this year.

The year is pretty young so I won’t go that far yet, but I totally agree with Richard that Ajax and Flash are (at this stage) complementary. If you’re serious about [insert web hype term], you need to be looking at both.

We’ll be talking about all this stuff, and more, at the next Pragmatic Ajax: Studio on April 25-27 in Chicago.

(Via Richard Monson-Haefel.)