Google Hosting Ajax Libraries

One of the concerns developers will always face in building Ajax based applications using frameworks are the libraries. There are hundreds of them available online and most of them are free to download and could be used in your website.

These libraries could be loaded in your server and will be used to create calls so that data could be loaded to the client side. That setting seemed to be very innocent but when you exploit the functions of these libraries, you will face a very big problem which is possible even for everyday use in a website.

When you use a certain library in different web pages, chances are the loading time will be slow since each URL has a different request to that library. This should not happen since a single load of the function from the library should be enough for the entire site. But since it is URL and not server based, the library will be requested again and again. Another concern is that too many libraries will of course slow down the performance of the service.

Part of that problem is apparently answered by Google. Just recently, Google has announced that it will be offering free hosting of some of the world’s most respected and used libraries. Libraries such as Dojo, MooTools, Script.aculo.us, prototype and jQuery will be hosted by Google. Developers should be able to enjoy this feature from Google.

Since a single source of library is sited, the loading time of the online application will be faster and it will greatly reduce the bandwidth requirement to load the webpage. Servers will also breathe better since the libraries will no longer be loaded right from the server.

Of course this setting is only applicable for developers who use multiple websites to load up the functions. When you use the libraries from Google and you only use them once, the speed will not be optimized since you are citing a single source. But when you have more than a single site that requires loading of the same function, Google will provide the solution through library hosting.

There is however a growing concern among developers with this type of service. Although Google might have all the right intentions of hosting libraries to developers, Google will have a free reign over the information entered and they could also monitor websites that are used by developers. IP address and even the browsers preferred by developers could be detected by Google since these types of information is loaded in the library hosted by Google.

Securities aside, Google apparently offers a nice service for developers worldwide. Development of application is not anymore based on what the developers knows and has but it is also based on the resources offered by internet giants. As long as Google will respect the privacy of the websites that uses their service, Google will keep up its reputation as one of the leaders to push online innovations that doesn’t only cater to users but to web developers as well.