I think you're talking about a different book, because this is an Ora book (one of several ORA books on Ajax - there's also Ajax Headrush and Ajax Hacks).
Re:"Disagreement on Terminology"
on
Ajax Design Patterns
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· Score: 3, Informative
Hi, this is Michael, the author of Ajax Design Patterns. I won't repeat what others have said already regarding the broad definition of patterns that this book assumes. Suffice to say, patterns didn't start with GoF and in fact, the basic idea - documenting common solutions in a consistent format - has been used in way or another for many decades, predating even Alexander's work. Here, I'd just like to add a couple of clarifications:
I understand where you're coming from if you consider the title to be stupendously hyped - "Ajax" and "Patterns" is buzzword squared. Well, the book is definitely about Ajax as most people (including Jesse James Garrett, coiner of the phrase) define it. As for "patterns", others have already stated why the Ajax Design Patterns are reasonablly called "patterns", but for those who think that the "patterns" term sells a book, this is not 2001:-). There was a period between around 1999 and 2002 when dozens of books came out with "patterns" in the title, using it legitimately or not. I watched the trend closely as I have been working with patterns since 1997, and I subsequently watched as patterns then settled back to being a standard tool of our industry and no longer a hype term that sold books by its name alone. In fact, I spoke to an acquisitions editor for a prominent publisher in 2004, and she told me her company has an outright policy of not publishing anything to do with patterns - it was old hat by then. Fortunately, O'Reilly went with it because patterns is what I had set out to achieve on my blog and wiki prior to the book contract, but I don't think anyone saw patterns as a marketing tactic in the past five years.
Though not the original pattern reference by any means, GoF has an important place in the history of patterns and has been vital to my own development. I was therefore pleased that one of the authors, Ralph Johnson, took a special interest in the book, conducting a series of review sessions on the book draft with his architecture group at Illinois. The MP3s are online (see previous link). While certain individual patterns come under scrutiny for their pattern-ness, the group overall takes it for granted that these are patterns and focuses on the content. This is actually the wish I expressed in the appendix to this book, anticipating the whole "pattern" debate...what's really important is the content, not the form. Patterns just happen to be a useful way to present reference material of this nature IMO.
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I think you're talking about a different book, because this is an Ora book (one of several ORA books on Ajax - there's also Ajax Headrush and Ajax Hacks).