Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript Asynchronous Programming with JavaScript Understanding Promises Using Fetch

Greg Radford
Greg Radford
7,268 Points

Is fetch() still considered AJAX?

Get was an AJAX method right, so is fetch still AJAX?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points

AJAX stands for "Asynchronous JavaScript And XML", which seems to imply the use of the XMLHttpRequest function for data transfer. Back when that term was coined, there wasn't really any other function to do the job.

But the newer (and easier to use) fetch function handles the same essential AJAX functionality of updating parts of a web page without reloading the whole page. So from that standpoint it should probably qualify. Plus, in some circles the term itself is being redefined as "Asynchronous JAvaScript Xfer (transfer)" to specifically include newer technologies like fetch.

So I guess the important issue is who's the audience, and how formal and/or traditional do you need to be?