I been learning or studying these couple of months, on raw javascript. I personally like it even though i still find its syntax structure to be a bit confusing since i’m coming from a C/C++ background (not main function, were to even begin)! However, i have come across so many different frameworks based on javascript that it can be extremely overwhelming. My initial reason to use javascript, was to modify and add interactivity to any web pages i create. I soon realize that JQuery initial approach is to provide a much faster way for javascript code to communicate with css. Another future aspiration is to perhaps build back-end software for an online service of some sort (just for fun since programming is a hobby).
Anyways, should i complete javascript and get a strong feel for it before even thinking of touching frameworks. Or do you think i should just learn the basics of javascript ( Objects, Arrays, Functions, OOP/Functional programming, etc.) before trying out JQuery framework? Of should i just simply learn the bare minimum of javascript like functions and variables, etc. then start JQuery since the syntax seems a bit different from the snippets ive seen!
Any tips and recommendations would be appreciated, i understand that most or everything i do in JQuery is achievable in javascript or not?
Yes, absolutely yes. While libraries like jQuery can make things easier, it is best to have a fundamental understanding of what is going on. If you understand vanilla JavaScript better, you have a better understanding of what jQuery is doing. Not to mention - if you understand vanilla JavaScript, you can get a job that doesn’t require jQuery experience (some places do not use libraries, at all - no jQuery, no MooTools.)
Everything is possible with plain JavaScript… that’s what jQuery is written in, after all
Where jQuery shines is abstracting the differences between different browsers, but that’s really less important these days given that current browsers implement much of the functionality natively and consistently.
Thanks i realize that learning javascript would help with JQuery since JQuery is based of javascript. I will continue to learn javascript until i before 100% comfortable, perhaps later down the road i’ll jump into frameworks !
My point of view isn’t popular here, but I think you don’t have to have full knowledge of how engine in your car works to be able to change oil or to pump a tire. It all depends on your final goals. There is no need to have “a strong feel” of JavaScript’s prototypes, concurrency model or memory management, for example, if everything that you want from it is a simple “show image in lightbox” functionality.
I’d pick this one. Learn the basics and go on with jQuery and friends. You’ll learn vanilla JavaScript anyway, playing with these frameworks. But only if you’ll really need to.
As the cross browser differences are disappearing and JavaScript is implementing its own single command equivalents to what jQuery provides, jQuery is rapidly becoming a collection of wrappers around single JavaScript statements.
Something similar is happening with others like CoffeeScript too, resulting in articles like Make ES6, Not Coffee on how you can now easily transition over to ES6.
