jQuery Introduction

Here we will learn what is jQuery, why we need to use jQuery, the difference between jQuery and JavaScript, advantages of jQuery and how to use jQuery with examples.

jQuery Introduction

jQuery is a simple, cross-platform, feature-rich JavaScript library that is implemented with a motto of “Write Less, Do More” and it provides an efficient way of using JavaScript in our web applications with minimal coding.

 

Generally, if we use JavaScript to implement the required functionality of our webpage, surely we need to write lengthy codes and need to spend huge time to implement it. So the solution to reduce lengthy codes and time-consuming process is using “jQuery” in our applications.

 

Initially, jQuery was released in January 2006 by John Resig at BarCamp NYC and currently, it is running by a group of volunteers who wants to see jQuery become the best JavaScript tool.

What is jQuery?

jQuery is a framework which built by using JavaScript library to “write less, do more” and it contains all the functionalities of JavaScript. jQuery will help us to minimizes the effort of writing the lengthy method descriptions to implement required functionalities.

 

jQuery simplifies a lot of things from JavaScript like HTML document traversal, event handling, animation and AJAX interactions for faster web development.

 

The following are the list of core features that are supported by jQuery library.

 

  • DOM manipulation
  • HTML event methods
  • Cross-browser support
  • AJAX
  • Effects and Animations
  • CSS manipulation
  • Utilities
  • JSON parsing

Why we need jQuery?

The main purpose of using jQuery is to provide an easier way to use JavaScript in our applications. jQuery provides us with readymade methods that have various functionalities and make our work much easier, faster and effective. 

 

Another benefit of jQuery is that it is easily compatible with various browsers or we can say that it is cross-platform compatible.

 

Even though there are various other JavaScript frameworks available in the market like Dojo, Ext Js, etc., but jQuery is the most popular and widely used framework because of its easy handling.

 

Many of the biggest companies like Google, IBM, WordPress, Microsoft, etc. are using jQuery to implement their applications.

Advantages of jQuery

The following are the advantages of using jQuery in our applications.

 

  • Easy to use - Because jQuery is a library so, it eliminates the need to write more code. So it makes its usage easy by following the “Write less, do more” technique.
  • It is compatible with all the languages which are dynamic like ASP, CGI, PHP, JSP, etc.
  • It uses AJAX to implement many features of AJAX technology like connectivity with the database.
  • jQuery helps us to include the required animation effects on our webpage.
  • It simplifies JavaScript functionalities to implement rich and interactive webpages by writing a few lines code.
  • It provides cross-browser compatibility for all modern browsers such as Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Microsoft Edge, etc. and it is freely available to use it in our applications.

Before using jQuery, it’s good for a developer to have a knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and a programming language. Although a developer with no such prerequisite knowledge can also learn jQuery but having an idea about these topics acts as a catalyst in the learning process.

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