Heard of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML)?  Not sure if it is all hype?

Well, we were researching it as a way to refresh a drop-down of metro areas after a user picks 1 or many states from a drop-down.  We need this for our search form that we are building for www.SitesBuildings.com (more on www.SitesBuildings.com in another post). 

It never hurts to see if there are some new widgets to help you get the job done.

Well, in poking around, we found this wonderful post by Rasmus Lerdorf, the creator of PHP:

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=php-general&m=112198633625636&w=2

Parsimony in code and explanation is indeed an art!  Check it out.

For another example of how Rasmus cuts through the hype of the current wave of Mapping Web Services offered by the Yahoo Map API, check out:

http://toys.lerdorf.com/archives/35-GeoCool!.html

Parsimony - add it to your list of wayward and underused words (**smile**).  Also see, Ockham’s razor.