What are best efficent ways to call WebService methods from JavaScript?

Actually I came up with this question, because of an example in one book I have tried and which did not work somehow. I am following "Professional JavaScript™ for Web Developers Nicholas C. Zakas" from Wrox. In its WebService chapter it is using "webservice.htc" webservice behavior to call a web service. I have tried to run that and could not make it work (I aasked about it as well here)

When I asked a friend of mine for help, he was quite surprised that I use webservice.htc. He said why I do not use microsoft ajax, jQuery, mootools, yui javascript,..... Which works in all browsers.

So, if there are many ways to do that and webservice.htc is not commonly used nowadays, how am I going to decide what to use? How can I compare them to see which works fine with my needs? Simply I need to learn how to call a webservice method from JavaScript

Any recommendations?

thank开发者_JAVA技巧s.

Ajax is the way to go, if you want to call a web service/server from the client side. The rest are just technologies that make your life easier. I'd start by looking at jQuery, as it is one of the more ubiquitous technologies out there, and very well supported/documented.