jQuery is a JavaScript library created to make it easier and simpler to write JavaScript and HTML. It works on most web browsers and was invented by John Resig. The first release was in January 2006 at BarCamp NYC. Today there is a team of programmers working on jQuery, which is led by Dave Methvin.
Today, more than 55% of the 10,000 most-visited websites use jQuery, hence it is the most popular JavaScript library being used today. It is free and open source software and licensed under the MIT License.
jQuery's syntax is designed to make it easier to write complicated JavaScript. Some things that are easier to do using jQuery are:
- navigate (move around) a web page
- select (choose) elements on a web page using the Document Object Model
- create animations
- handle events like user actions
- create Ajax applications.
It also allows programmers to make their own jQuery plug-ins.
Companies like Microsoft and Nokia have said that they are going to include jQuery on their mobile platforms. In addition, Microsoft is including jQuery in its Visual Studio software to use with the ASP.NET AJAX framework and ASP.NET MVC Framework. Nokia has included it in their Web Run-Time widget development platform. jQuery has also been used in MediaWiki since version 1.16.