1.12. One Last Tangential Thing: Ext Core

As of version 3.0, the Ext JS team has also released a separate, but very much related product called Ext Core. Ext Core contains much of what has been discussed in this chapter, but it does not include everything the full Ext JS library includes (widgets are the most obvious omission). Ext Core is intended to provide a consistent, fully cross-browser API for performing the most common tasks modern RIA developers need—tasks like DOM traversal and manipulation, CSS management, event handling, Ajax, and animations.

The nice thing about Ext Core is that it is licensed under the liberal MIT license, which is an open source license that allows a tremendous amount of freedom. Also, Ext Core is 100 percent free to use under that license, so all of the previous statements about licensing issues are null and void when it comes to Ext Core!

Ext Core is a real nice addition to the product offerings from Ext, LLC, and best of all, what is covered in this book applies to Ext Core as well! It may well be that as you look at your needs you discover that the full-blown Ext JS library has a lot more than you need, in which case Ext Core may be just the ticket, and a cheaper ticket at that!

Of course, the Ext team obviously hopes that people become enamored of Ext Core and eventually buy a full Ext JS license. This is, you have to remember, a business after all, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with that strategy. As good as Ext Core is, that's probably a good strategy on their part! In the end, though, Ext Core provides a ton of capabilities and a lot of power at no cost, which I think says a lot about the Ext team and their belief in the open source model.