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JavaScript AJAX Basics (retiring) AJAX and APIs Adding jQuery

Posted by Joseph Dunleavy
Joseph Dunleavy
259 Points

Why am I not learning more pure javascript?

I guess I'm a little annoyed that I'm learning this jquery so soon. I hardly know any JavaScript at this point. I know how to build a basic todo list with javascript from the interactivity section before this with guil hernandez. That's it. Is it really not necessary to know pure js?

Abraham Juliot
Abraham Juliot
47,353 Points
Abraham Juliot
Abraham Juliot
47,353 Points

The cool thing about open courses is you can always pause and come back later. But, you make a good point on the importance of grasping pure js. Even in the beginners track, you will be introduced to jQuery and then jQuery plugins after only 4 plain js courses. But, there are a handful of pure JavaScript workshops that would be better to focus on. JQuery is becoming more and more obsolete in terms of need to know. If I may recommend a few free resources, do check out the following:

https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS https://github.com/EbookFoundation/free-programming-books/blob/master/free-programming-books.md#javascript

Bain Matlin
Bain Matlin
3,730 Points
Bain Matlin
Bain Matlin
3,730 Points

I understand what you are saying.

What I'm doing is going through the jQuery lessons and then re-doing everything in Vanilla JavaScript.

4 Answers

Jason Anders
MOD
Jason Anders
Treehouse Moderator 145,860 Points
Jason Anders
Jason Anders
Treehouse Moderator 145,860 Points

Hey Joseph,

Why are you not then on the JavaScript Basics Track? I guess I'm just a bit confused why you are in the AJAX course (which is an Intermediate Level JavaScript course and requires a fair amount of JavaScript and jQuery knowledge).

Treehouse Tracks are designed to properly progress you through the learning process. So, it starts you off at the very beginning and takes you step-by-step through JavaScript.

I really recommend you begin on that track and then branch out from there when the track is completed.

Keep Coding! :dizzy:

Joseph Dunleavy
Joseph Dunleavy
259 Points

Jason Anders I'm doing the fullstack javascript track. It has javascript basics. Its what was recommended by treehouse when I signed up. I've made it to the ajax section. But they didn't show me much with pure JS. There was a small section called javascript interactivity that showed me how to interact with a page. Built a todo list type thing. Then went straight into jquery. Then ajax with jquery. Wish there was more javascript, thats all. I will check out the basics track and see what it offers. Thanks

Joseph Dunleavy
Joseph Dunleavy
259 Points
Joseph Dunleavy
Joseph Dunleavy
259 Points

Abraham thanks for this! I'm checking it out right now

Brian Hudson
Brian Hudson
14,785 Points
Brian Hudson
Brian Hudson
14,785 Points

Abraham can you elaborate on your comment regarding JQuery becoming obsolete?

Abraham Juliot
Abraham Juliot
47,353 Points
Abraham Juliot
Abraham Juliot
47,353 Points

https://s10.postimg.org/p3rn4bizt/no_j_Query.png

jQuery should no longer be relied upon for DOM manipulation, animation or browser compatibility. The JavaScript API has progressed significantly over the years and as of 2016, Microsoft no longer supports browsers < ie11. jQuery is becoming more and more obsolete in terms of what it offers. But, that is no too say one should not learn jQuery. It is still significantly used everywhere. See https://trends.builtwith.com/javascript/javascript-library. And there is a lot of brilliant design to learn from jQuery the source code, as may be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_qE1iAmjFg

I recommend learning jQuery for educational purposes and to qualify for jobs that still depend on it. But, for creators and new applications or plugins, personally I think jQuery should be avoided.

Here's a few links to consider:

I had a little fun with this a while back and wrote my own selector/dom manip library using plain JS. It's much faster than jQuery in terms of page load, and it does everything I need.

https://gist.github.com/abrahamjuliot/a1d1e55347a282e6f74857e9be1e8df6

Brian Hudson
Brian Hudson
14,785 Points
Brian Hudson
Brian Hudson
14,785 Points

A lot to digest here. Thanks Abraham!