In this chapter, you learned about the basic architectural differences between traditional ASP.NET programming and client-side AJAX programming with ASP.NET AJAX against a service-based architecture. You learned the basic principles of service-based programming and how to create basic WCF endpoints for ASP.NET AJAX.

With these basic skills you should be able to write simple client-side AJAX—but we’ll take this to the extreme throughout this book as we look at an AJAX-friendly service infrastructure based on service-oriented WCF applications and object-oriented AJAX components that use Microsoft’s AJAX JavaScript library.

But first, a robust AJAX front-end application requires a robust back-end application. In the next two chapters, we’ll look deeper into WCF fundamentals, service orientation, and the WCF Web programming model before moving on to client-side AJAX programming with the Microsoft AJAX Library.