Programming language now makes it possible for us to create websites for many purposes. This means that the information is sent from the server directly to the client. This will make the process become faster. This also means that the web application will work faster than usual because there will be no waiting time for information to come.
Using a programming language means you have to be familiar with AJAX and Fetch. There are a lot of people who do not know the difference between Fetch and AJAX. These two terms have become quite popular in recent years, but what exactly are they?
| AJAX | Fetch |
| Use XML request to the objects | Use a window method |
| Based on XHR | Don’t use XHR so it becomes faster |
| Can reports some error codes | Can only reports error codes 400500 means failed requests to the server |
What is AJAX?
AJAX is a technology that was developed by Microsoft and has been available since 2006. It is a programming language that can be used to build web applications that are built using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Ajax stands for “Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.” Ajax is a set of web development methods that use different web technologies on the client side to create asynchronous (a style of communication that occurs between people and technological components). Ajax allows web apps to send and receive data from a service asynchronously (in the background) without causing problems with the display and behavior of the web page.
AJAX was first introduced as a way of improving website performance by allowing us to do some asynchronous tasks like requesting data from a server and displaying the results on our page immediately. However, today we can use AJAX in so many other ways, like when we want to include Javascript code into our HTML document, or when we want to create animations on our website.
What is Fetch?
Fetch is a way to load web pages and make them ready for the user to view. This is another method that allows web developers to load web pages quickly and smoothly without refreshing the page.
Fetch, combined with JavaScript is a pretty straightforward and flexible when making requests from web browsers. The Fetch API has given developers significant flexibility when used with JavaScript Promises. It also makes web browser requests easier and faster. Fetch is a powerful tool used to help streamline workflows.
Fetch is used in websites that require a page to be loaded on every page request. For example, if you are on a website that requires you to log in before you can view the main page, then this will be using fetch.
How Are They Related?
Basically AJAX and Fetch have the same purpose and sometimes support each other. If you want to read an article on your favorite news website, then it will most likely be using fetch as well. When we use AJAX, we are loading web pages without refreshing them or loading them into memory at all times.
This means that when we click a link on our browser, we will not see the new page appear immediately on our screen like we would with fetch. Instead, when we click the link, we will have to wait until the website loads completely before it shows up on our screen.
Ajax vs Fetch
Ajax is an advanced javascript library. It is possible to make the data loading come faster to the web. Ajax does not allow you to do everything with JavaScript but it does give you some great features like data binding. It can only be used in one browser.
On the other side, Fetch will load all website data. So when you click at 1 particular part, you don’t need another loading time to show the web screen.
The Fetch API is relatively new for web browsers; however, it builds on the older Ajax technology. Ajax was first used to allow websites to send requests without reloading the entire page. Before this technology was available, it was necessary to reload the entire page to update anything on the page. This was slow and highly inefficient.
The Fetch API was brought about by new browsers. The technology has all the power of Ajax but does not have cross-origin security problems, and it has added support for more HTTP methods like PUT and DELETE.
Fetch is a simple API that offers request and response abstractions. Moreover, the API can be used alone.
Fetch offers many pros, including that it supports streaming. Fetch API makes it possible to read data one chunk at a time without buffering, and it’s available for binary data. The API can also access partial content while the response is received.
