Challenges in Performance Testing of AJAX Applications

The AJAX model for Web applications has been rapidly gaining in popularity because of its ability to bring the richness and responsiveness of desktop applications to the Web. Because one of the key drivers for the rapid adoption of AJAX is its promise of superior performance, it is surprising that there has been very little discussion of AJAX-specific performance testing. In fact, AJAX has a significant impact on aspects of the performance testing lifecycle including definition of goals, user modeling, and test scripting. Rajendra Gokhale discusses issues to consider: AJAX engine simulation and optimization, cross-client performance of AJAX applications, and design choices related to test scripting. Using Google's "Google Suggest" service as a case study, Rajendra examines the unique challenges of carrying out performance testing of AJAX-based applications and offers suggestions for overcoming them.

• How AJAX applications differ from standard Web applications
• Modeling user interactions with AJAX applications
• The need for complex test scripts to test AJAX-based applications