Introduction to jQuery - Benefits of Using jQuery over JS

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Mar 8, 2024

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Introduction to jQuery

jQuery refers to a lightweight and concise JavaScript (JS) library that aims to make JS programming easier and swifter. It is a feature-rich and open-source library that simplifies several complicated tasks such as manipulating and traversing an HTML-CSS page, handling events, animating objects, and making Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) calls. The library offers an easy-to-use application programming interface (API) compatible across several browsers. It wraps several common tasks into the build methods. A web developer can invoke the desired method by writing just a single line of JS code instead of writing several lines of it. This is how jQuery accomplishes the purpose of 'getting more by writing less.'

Benefits of Using jQuery over JS

There are many JS frameworks available but jQuery is perhaps the most extendable one. Big brands such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft are using it. Following on the benefits of using jQuery over JS or other JS libraries:

• Unobtrusive JS: jQuery helps in designing web pages through unobtrusive JS, an approach that separates functionality between the presentation and structure of our web page. In other words, inserting an event code in the script keeps the behavior separate from the web page's structure or content.
  
  
• Lightweight: The reduced library size is a (KB), which is perhaps smaller than that of a digital photo file. JQuery version 2. x is smaller than version 1. x. The former version is more widely used, as it supports Internet Explorer (IE) 6/ 7/ 8. The browser needs to download it once and cache it for using it on all web pages of a site. In the case of a web developer relying upon a content delivery network (CDN), the browser tends to cache the library across several websites instead of downloading for each.
  
  
• Ease of use: This is due to the simple yet robust syntax and significantly reduced lines of JS code. The syntax makes it simple to select the page elements that need a change. For this, the library uses CSS selector specification, which eliminates the need to learn the jQuery syntax.
  
  
• Big and focused library: Unlike other JS libraries, web developers can perform a variety of functions. Further, to make JS tasks easier, jQuery offers several utility functions. With these functions, web developers can parse data, trim strings, and search for array elements based on a filter. However, the library is focused, which means it contains only essential features. A web page downloads only those features that it requires.
  
  
• Extensibility: jQuery comes with a plugin framework which it simple to extend jQuery. The framework includes both third-party and official plugins. So, if a feature does not exist in the library, a web developer may include it through a plug-in.
  
  
• Browser compatibility: Just like a few other JS libraries, jQuery flawlessly resolves cross-browser issues. JS implementations tend to vary amongst browsers, and it can take much time for web developers to get the code working across browsers. However, the makers of jQuery have already implemented the code to display web pages seamlessly across all major browsers.
  
  
• Strong community: Although a new library, jQuery has an exclusive community through which dedicated developers tend to improve its functionality. Through this community, there are several plugins available to accelerate the web development process. Most of the plugins are secure and efficient.
  
  
• Ajax support: jQuery easily allows the creation of Ajax templates for gaining the benefits of smoother interfaces and efficient loading. A User can act on a web page without reloading the whole page.
  
  
• Comprehensive documentation: The official website of jQuery has in-depth documentation and tutorials, which helps even a beginner in programming to start easily.