jQuery: most popular JavaScript framework

This article gives a brief introduction to JavaScript, JavaScript frameworks (or libraries) and jQuery as the most popular of these frameworks in particular.

1. What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a scripting language that gives web browsers the power to do more than just load web documents. It was developed in 1995 by Netscape.

Today, JavaScript is used by a vast number of modern, commercial web-applications. Still, opinions about it are controversial, mainly for security-reasons.

2. What is a JavaScript framework?

JavaScript frameworks have been built to make using JavaScript easier by simplifying many of the standard-tasks. Often, this has the additional advantage of code-reduction.

One example is ensuring the cross-browser compatibility of a script, a task that many JavaScript frameworks perform automatically due to their design concept.

3. What is jQuery?

jQuery is a free JavaScript framework and the most detected JavaScript library in use on the web. Free stands for “You don’t need to pay for it.” as well as for “It’s open-source.”.

jQuery offers the following functionalities:

• DOM-Manipulation
• Event-Treating
• Data-Access via Ajax
• User interface Effects

jQuery’s philosophy is:

1. Find something
   (i.e. find a DOM-element, say a <div>)
2. Do something
   (i.e. do something to this element, say add a css-attribute)

4. Why do I want to use jQuery instead of X?

jQuery is one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks. It offers wide functionalities and has an excellent documentation. Further more there are many extensions available and the community is large.

The functionality of jQuery is reasonably similar to that of Prototype and script.aculo.us. However, it is far more popular for above mentioned reasons.

Usage-comparison of different JavaScript frameworks:

• A usage-comparison of different JavaScript frameworks from “Google trends” (Source: Google trends, 2010-06-13):

  

• “Distribution of the top web technologies” from “Web and Internet Technology Usage Statistics” (Source: trends.builtwith.com, 2010-06-13):

5. What else?

• Plugins
  JQuery has hundreds of plugins: http://plugins.jquery.com
• jQuery UI (User Interface)
  Set of official user interface components, for example “drag and drop”: http://jqueryui.com
• Get help
  • Forum: http://forum.jquery.com/
  • Discussion docs: http://docs.jquery.com/Discussion

6. Sources / Further Reading

• 7 Amazing Presentation Slides to teach you how to code with jQuery: http://web.enavu.com/tutorials/7-amazing-presentation-slides-to-teach-you-how-to-code-with-jquery/
• c’t magazin für computer technik, “Rahmenarbeiter”, Ausgabe 8 (29.03.2010), S. 154-157