Updated June 30, 2023
Introduction to jQuery
jQuery is not a language but a well-written JavaScript code; if you are aware of front-end development or a front-end developer, you must have heard of it jQuery. This article will have a quick overview of jQuery, covering all the aspects of What jQuery is, its advantages, who can learn and use it, etc. Let’s refine this by answering some questions one by one.
What is jQuery?
In Web development, webpages are designed using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. HTML is used to develop static webpages; CSS adds design to pages, and JavaScript makes webpages dynamic, i.e., allowing them to reflect changes dynamically. The library has already available functionalities, is ready to use, and makes development easier. Concerning all these terms, It is a JavaScript Library.
It is a compact and fast JavaScript library. It is rich in features. This tool simplifies HTML document navigation and editing, animation creation, event management, and Ajax usage. It has an easy-to-use API that works across cross-browsers. It has changed how JavaScript is written in a minimalistic way with its superior features. We will have a better understanding of all this in the following part.
Understanding jQuery
It is something that greatly simplifies JavaScript programming. It makes it much easier to use JavaScript on web pages. See, the catch here is those things are achieved by using JavaScript; we can achieve the same by using jQuery, but in a very simplified manner, with very little complexity. Technically, it is a fast and concise JavaScript library created by an American Software engineer and entrepreneur John Resig in 2006.
How does jQuery make working so Easy?
It was created with a nice motto “Write less and do more.” jQuery’s entire functionality revolves around simplifying every line of code. It makes it easier to navigate a document. Tracking a range of events, such as user clicks, becomes highly efficient with this method without overcrowding the HTML code; It takes care of everything in between. It simplifies DOM manipulation, event handling, and every other thing.
What can you do with jQuery?
Using jQuery, we can create animations and develop Ajax-based applications. It also allows developers to create plugins on top of the JavaScript library, enabling developers to create abstractions for low-level interaction and animation, advanced effects, and high-level, themeable widgets. The modular approach to using the jQuery library allows the creation of powerful dynamic web pages and Web applications. These are some of the examples of what we can do using jQuery.
Advantages
Given below are the advantages mentioned:
- It is easy to use as compared to standard JavaScript and other libraries.
- You can easily access many available features.
- It already has available plugins, which make developers’ life easy.
- Ajax is a very useful technique for creating faster, better, more interactive web applications, and it has Ajax support.
- It has cross-browser support.
- It is a very lightweight library with a size of about only 19KB.
Required Skills
The prerequisites required to learn jQuery are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. One should understand what DOM is, how DOM is manipulated, and how CSS is applied. Overall a basic understanding of front-end development along with these skills is required.
Why should we use jQuery?
- Web developers manipulate the DOM to make a web page interactive, making it extremely easy to use DOM. DOM is a tree structure of HTML elements.
- It is a free and open-source library. Its community of contributors is more diverse and bigger than any other JavaScript library.
- It has detailed and comprehensive documentation, which gets better every day.
- You can easily add over 1000 free plugins to your projects.
- It has cross-browser support, i.e., it supports almost all commonly used web browsers.
Scope
It is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries. According to statistics, It is used by around 97% of all websites which use JavaScript. It is still there, but some developers are switching to other preferences due to some requirements. One of the problems with jQuery is that the processing time it takes to execute is more in some cases, which makes websites slow. Still, many options are available in 2019, but it is not going anywhere soon.
Why do we need jQuery?
It wraps the many lines of JavaScript code into a single line of code and provides the same functionality. It simplifies many complicated things from JavaScript, like DOM manipulation and AJAX calls. This simplifies event handling and animation. It has an easy-to-use API that runs across a large number of browsers. JavaScript becomes so easy and simple when we use jQuery. It makes development faster and reduces time and effort.
Who is the Right Audience for Learning jQuery Technologies?
Anyone with basic knowledge of programming and web technologies can learn jQuery. Any software engineer or developer can learn jQuery. You can learn jQuery if you want to excel as a front-end developer.
How will this Technology help you in Career Growth?
If you are a front-end developer, jQuery adds value to your profile. It offers a great deal of flexibility and power to web designers. Many people widely use it because it is light, clean, and open source. Having this skill will be an advantage to web developers in career growth.
Conclusion
It is worth the effort, money, and time. This library can offer stunning effects on the website. With a little coding, It will be a big part of web development. It has all the tools to build an interactive and highly engaging website. Overall, it is a game-changing technology.
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