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JavaScript

Posted by Issac Dalton
Issac Dalton
Courses Plus Student 234 Points

Feeling confused with Javascript

Hi there! I'm feeling confused to learn Javascript.I know Javascript is the language for web,it's the most popular language in the world today.I'm working with Javascript for 3 months.I've learned Basic Javascript and some HTML5 API's.Although it takes much more code than jQuery but i'm not feeling bored.I don't know why i'm learning Javascript,only i know i'm feeling interested in Javascript .Some of my friend suggest me i should work with jQuery instead of Javascript.They told me i can do anything with jQuery like Javascript does.I have a dream to be a perfect Web Developer both Client and Server side and i want to build Mobile Apps based on Javascript technologies.I have a plan to learn NodeJS after Front End Javascript .Should i continue to learn pure Javascript or jump to jQuery? Please recommend me what should i do?

4 Answers

LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points
LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points

Learning JQuery is like buying betty crocker cake mix. Sure its easy to follow the directions, but you really don't know what you're eating. Learning JavaScript is like making a cake from scratch. If you know how to make a homemade cake, you can always tell if the cake mix shortcut is a good replacement or not. Hence if you learn JavaScript, libraries like JQuery will be extremely easy to understand. Your strong foundational knowledge will help you diagnose issues with those libraries and help you work easily with them. You are on the right track. I say keep going with JavaScript :)

Yngve Molnes
Yngve Molnes
5,637 Points
Yngve Molnes
Yngve Molnes
5,637 Points

^ To extend what Jonathan answered; Javascript is the language. jQuery is just a tool within the javascript world in order to more easily manipulate the DOM. Dont get me wrong, I think jQuery is great and have used it alot, but being able to get your hands dirty and have full control over your code is key to becoming a great developer. And compared to vanilla-js, jQuery is also very very slow and can seriously hurt the user experience of your site. To read more about the power of vannila-js head over to - http://vanilla-js.com/ to see a comparison of different frameworks and javascript tools.

Issac Dalton
PLUS
Issac Dalton
Courses Plus Student 234 Points
Issac Dalton
Issac Dalton
Courses Plus Student 234 Points

Thanks to Latoya,Yngve & Jonathan Would you please tell me what actually Vanilla Js is? Is it a third party library like jQuery?

Yngve Molnes
Yngve Molnes
5,637 Points
Yngve Molnes
Yngve Molnes
5,637 Points

Vanilla JS is just a name for javascript without any addons, external libraries or frameworks. It is just javascript as is. No bullshit, ONLY javascript. Please do read the documentation vanilla-js. It explains what the differences are.

Jonathan Grieve
MOD
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points
Jonathan Grieve
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points

If you feel like you've learned all you can with JavaScript and taken enough of the courses then feel free to jump ahead to jQuery. But jQuery is only JavaScript add on, kind of a library to vanilla javascript. It performs most it not all things vanilla JS can do with less code. :-)