“ASP.NET AJAX is alright, but it is way too server-centric for serious client-side development…”, One of the more common misconceptions with ASP.NET AJAX is that it has always been a server-centric framework and offered little to no value for purely client-side JavaScript development. One of the primary objectives of this presentation is to show how ASP.NET AJAX as a JavaScript library has always been useable without server constraints, as well as how ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 makes that even more of a reality by adding additional support.

When some developers think of ASP.NET AJAX they implicitly associate it with WebForms, and feel like it’s very coupled to the ScriptManager and UpdatePanel server controls. While this style of development (partial rendering) in WebForms is an available option, it’s important to keep in mind that that is simply an integration point between ASP.NET AJAX and ASP.NET WebForms. If you’re already using WebForms, partial rendering provides a very easy starting point for introducing AJAX-like functionality to a web application.

That said, ASP.NET AJAX can be used outside of the context of WebForms, because it is ultimately just a collection of JavaScript files that can be referenced within a web page. It’s true that Visual Studio provides rich support for using ASP.NET AJAX, but there is no reason to treat ASP.NET AJAX any differently than any other JavaScript library (i.e. jQuery, Prototype, etc.)

Taking a pragmatic look at the existing ASP.NET AJAX release, we recognize that there are some things missing from it that are really necessary to begin doing any serious client-side web development with it.

There needs to be a stronger offering in terms of client-side controls, which ideally would also provide the same level of templating and data binding that the server controls in WebForms provide. In addition, because JavaScript is a client technology, communication between the server needs to be extremely easy, such that developing with JavaScript, and taking on the tax of an additional tier, becomes simple enough to warrant the benefits it provides without overloading the time it takes to create.

Finally, ASP.NET AJAX really needs to become modular in the sense that developers can pick and choose what pieces of the framework they want to use, or need for that matter.