Ajax (which stands for "Asynchronous JavaScript and XML") is not a product or a technology. Actually, it's not any single thing you can point to. Rather, it is a technique that combines DHTML and JavaScript with the (until fairly recently unnoticed and unused) ability of web browsers to make asynchronous HTTP calls.
If that sounds obscure, don't worry. What it simply means is that JavaScript (the scripting language supported by just about every web browser) has the ability to make web page requests under programmatic control, requests that don't actually update or refresh the screen. By coupling that ability with some clever JavaScript and DHTML, web browser can be made to do some very interesting things, including addressing the scenarios just mentioned.
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