The Early Days

Before ES5 was introduced, JavaScript was quite rudimentary, lacking essential standards and functionalities that many other programming languages offered. This absence made development cumbersome and often frustrating. Key features we now take for granted, like forEach, for...of, map, and reduce, were simply unavailable. Working with the DOM was particularly challenging due to its early stage of evolution. As a result, developers often had to create their own fundamental functions, leading to the emergence of numerous frameworks, jQuery being one of them. While these frameworks shared some commonalities, they were primarily tailored to meet the specific needs of their developers rather than provide comprehensive solutions.

The Ascent of jQuery

jQuery quickly became invaluable for simplifying DOM manipulations, allowing developers to create responsive applications without constantly reloading pages, unlike PHP. Its well-organized documentation, stable updates, and adherence to new standards helped distinguish it from other frameworks, propelling it to immense popularity. By 2010, jQuery was ubiquitous across the web. According to Wikipedia, its community continued to expand, and support improved as new features were integrated based on evolving browser capabilities. But what could possibly go wrong?

The Decline of jQuery

Unfortunately, jQuery's success was not destined to last. With the introduction of new standards came a wave of modern frameworks, such as Angular, which you might recognize. Just as Angular (specifically the original Angular 1.0) struggled to keep pace with React and Vue, jQuery found itself unable to compete with the likes of Angular and later React.

jQuery’s original mission to simplify DOM API interaction was commendable, but it fell short compared to the capabilities of newer frameworks that embraced component-based architecture with reactivity and state management. To incorporate such features, jQuery would have required a fundamental redesign—a task so radical that it made more sense to develop an entirely new technology rather than overhaul the existing one.

Moreover, the introduction of new functions to the DOM API mirrored many of jQuery's offerings, rendering the framework somewhat redundant. With native access to these functions, it became increasingly irrational to rely on jQuery. Consequently, its popularity began a slow but steady decline, as new developers opted not to learn it, while seasoned developers migrated to more advanced alternatives. jQuery's use dwindled to a sentimentality among those who preferred not to adapt or were tasked with maintaining older websites.

Conclusion: jQuery's Legacy

Despite its decline, jQuery maintains a presence among developers. It's not uncommon to find jQuery solutions on platforms like Stack Overflow, often outpacing responses in plain JavaScript or other frameworks such as React and Vue. This is somewhat unexpected, given its waning popularity. Nevertheless, jQuery will likely persist for the foreseeable future, primarily due to the vast number of websites built with it.

What are your thoughts on jQuery?

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