Why Learn jQuery

A friend of mine, who is not a developer by trade but deals with websites a lot, asked me recently about learning JavaScript. The short version of my recommendation is to learn jQuery. It is already installed on the sites he is working on and using it he can get results quickly.

Don’t Start with “Modern” JavaScript

Modern JavaScript and the powerful hot frameworks that go with it are amazing tools that allow developers to build impressive things. However, they also come with a steep cost. Even if you aren’t using a framework like React or Vue, if you’re writing modern JavaScript you’ll still need to transpile it (run it through a tool to rewrite it in an older version of JavaScript so it works on older browsers). This kind of tooling is a huge hurdle for someone getting started.

Forgotten Older Browsers

One of the dangers of the need for transpilation (so the code runs on older browsers) is this need can be a hidden need. If you’re writing modern JavaScript and you’re using the latest version of the Google Chrome Browser, you may not see any issues until you test the code on older browsers (assuming you test them at all).

jQuery to the Rescue

The power of jQuery is you can write code for it that will run on older browsers (back to IE 9 at the time of this writing source) without having to run your code through any tools. This is a huge win in productivity.

Resources

• jQuery Learning Center

Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)

Sal is a PHP developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a senior backend engineer.