What is jQuery?

jQuery is a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library. It makes things like HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, animation, and Ajax much simpler with an easy-to-use API that works across a multitude of browsers. With a combination of versatility and extensibility, jQuery has changed the way that millions of people write JavaScript.

Why jQuery?

jQuery is very compact and well written JavaScript code that increases the productivity of the developer by enabling them to achieve critical UI functionality by writing very small amount of code.

• It helps to improve the performance of the application
• It helps to develop most browser compatible web page
• It helps to implement UI related critical functionality without writing hundreds of lines of codes
• It is fast
• It is extensible – jQuery can be extended to implement customized behavior