The introduction of jQuery has revolutionized the way web developers write code, making it easier to create interactive, dynamic websites. In this article, we will explore the fundamentals of jQuery, its advantages over traditional JavaScript, and some interesting facts about jQuery.
Table of Contents
What is jQuery?
jQuery is a JavaScript library designed to make coding with JavaScript and HTML more straightforward. It is compatible with most web browsers, having debuted at BarCamp NYC in January 2006. John Resig, its inventor, is now supported by a team of developers, headed by Dave Methvin, which steadily works on its updates and features.
jQuery is currently the most popular JavaScript library used on the web. jQuery makes it easy to select, manipulate, and traverse HTML elements, create animations, as well as handle events. It also provides a wide range of APIs for working with HTML, CSS, and Ajax.
jQuery also provides a wide range of plugins and extensions, which allow developers to quickly and easily add functionality to their websites. These plugins and extensions make it easy to create interactive web experiences, such as sliders, carousels, and lightboxes. jQuery also provides a wide range of utilities, such as a templating system and a library of UI components.
Advantages of jQuery
The advantages of jQuery are speed, performance, and ease of use. It is a very lightweight library that can execute JavaScript on the client side for fast results without reloading or refreshing any pages. The animations run smoothly because they are handled by the browser instead of slowing down your computer’s CPU like other animation libraries do (e.g., Flash). In addition to being easy to use, jQuery also has great documentation with tons of examples and tutorials from beginner through advanced levels.
jQuery saves you time when coding HTML documents as it simplifies traversal using CSS selectors: elements within an HTML document can be accessed based on their ID, name attribute, or tag type. This not only makes programming faster but more efficient because fewer lines of code are needed.
jQuery has many functions and plugins, which can be used to create various effects such as animations, event handling (e.g., hiding/showing elements), DOM manipulation (adding classes), and more. jQuery is also easy for beginners because it supports interactive methods such as “show(), hide()” or “fadeOut().” These commands have built-in easing effects that make the animation smoother than if they were done without jQuery. This makes programming easier with less complex code involved in simple tasks like animating HTML objects on a web page.
The addition of a library like jQuery can make your life easier when coding websites because you will be able to devote more time to the design aspects instead of spending hours trying to figure out how an animation works or why something isn’t working properly on the Internet Explorer version eight. The pros are greater than any cons that come with using such an easy-to-use tool.
8 Interesting Facts about jQuery
Here are some interesting jQuery facts that you might not have known before:
- jQuery was not always called jQuery; it was originally named JSelect. Unfortunately, the domain name jselect.com was not available, so the name was changed to JQuery. The capitalization of the name was then altered to “jQuery”.
- The sheer number of websites that use jQuery is staggering. As of April 2023, there are over 90,460,697 websites that use jQuery, according to BuiltWith.
- jQuery was created by John Resig and released in January 2006 at BarCamp NYC. Since then, it has become the most widely-used JavaScript library in the world, according to Wikipedia.
- jQuery has been around for almost 20 years and has become a popular library for web developers. Despite the many new features and updates that have been added to the library, some of the core methods remain unchanged. These methods, such as .css(), .toggle(), .show(), and .hide(), have been around since the beginning and are still used today. As such, jQuery has never introduced any changes that would break compatibility with these methods.
- When jQuery was released, it was created without a version control system, which was not uncommon for software projects at the time. In modern times, a version control system such as Git is essential for open-source projects, allowing them to be posted on sites like GitHub. Without a VCS, developers would have a much harder time tracking and managing changes to the source code.
- jQuery surprisingly implemented a Creative Commons license. Creative Commons (CC) licensing is generally used for licensing creative works such as stock photos, design templates, icons, UI kits, and other digital assets. However, CC licenses are not particularly suitable for open-source software, which is why it seemed out of place for the jQuery library to have a CC license.
- John Resig developed the JavaScript library jQuery, but the name was already taken by another project. This was a Java SQL library, and Resig was unaware of the overlap when creating his library. He later discovered the conflict and felt guilty for the possibility of confusion.
- Michael Geary released JSON for jQuery on January 25, 2006, making it the first jQuery plugin ever. This plugin facilitates requesting and outputting JSON data with ease, demonstrating the profound extensibility of jQuery.
