What is the difference between jQuery and JavaScript?

Differences Front End Technology Javascript jQuery

Both JavaScript and jQuery serve the same overarching objective of making the webpages more interactive and dynamic. They give the websites a sense of vibrancy. People may ask why there is a need for two distinct ideas if they serve the same function and are utilised in the same way. Read through this article to find out how jQuery differs from JavaScript.

What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a lightweight programming language that is used most often as a component of webpages. Its webpage implementations enable client-side script to interact with the user and create dynamic sites. It is a programming language that is interpreted and can handle object-oriented functionality.

JavaScript is interpreted and therefore it is very lightweight.
It was designed for the purpose of developing apps that focus on networks.
It complements and is fully incorporated with HTML.
It is free to use on several operating systems.

JavaScript Development Tools

Many different manufacturers have developed quite helpful JavaScript editing tools in order to make our lives easier.

Microsoft FrontPage

Microsoft is responsible for the creation of FrontPage, a widely used HTML editor. Additionally, web developers have access to a variety of JavaScript tools inside FrontPage, which may aid them in the process of creating dynamic websites.

In the world of professional web development, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX is a highly well-known and widely used HTML and JavaScript editor. It complies to modern standards such as XHTML and XML, includes a number of helpful prebuilt JavaScript components, and connects effectively with databases.

Macromedia HomeSite 5

HomeSite 5 is a well-liked HTML and JavaScript editor that was developed by Macromedia. It is a tool that can be used to efficiently manage individual websites.

Creating interactive webpages often requires the usage of JavaScript. Its primary applications are −

Client-side validation,
Dynamic drop-down menus,
Including the date and the time,
Displaying new windows and dialogue boxes as they appear (like an alert dialogue box, confirm dialogue box, and prompt dialogue box),
Including things like clocks, etc.

Example

Here's a sample JavaScript code −

<script>
   document.write("this text in to JavaScript");
</script>

What is jQuery?

jQuery is a JavaScript library that was developed in 2006 by John Resig. It is known for its speed and brevity, jQuery makes it easier to move through HTML pages, handle events, use animations, and interact with Ajax, which makes it faster to build websites.

jQuery is a JavaScript library that is efficient, lightweight, and compact in size. It is compatible with several operating systems and browsers, making it cross-platform. It is also known as "write less, do more," which is another name for it. Because it takes a large number of typical activities, each of which normally needs a large number of lines of JavaScript code to do,

Features of jQuery

Here are some of the important features of jQuery −

DOM Manipulation − Using a cross-browser open source selection engine called Sizzle, jQuery makes it simple to choose DOM elements, negotiate them, and edit their content. This was made possible by the DOM manipulation feature.
Event Handling − The jQuery library provides an easy method for capturing a broad range of events, such as a user clicking on a link, without the need to clutter the HTML code itself with event handlers. An example of such an event is when a user clicks on a link.
Support for Several Browsers − jQuery has support for multiple browsers, and it works well on Internet Explorer 6.0 and later, Firefox 2.0 and later, Safari 3.0 and later, Chrome, and Opera 9.0 and later.
Compatibility − jQuery is compatible with the CSS3 selectors as well as the fundamental XPath syntax.

Besides these, jQuery provides other features such as HTML modification, DOM manipulation and DOM element selection, utility programs for CSS modification effects and animations, AJAX and HTML event methods, JSON Parsing, Extensibility by the use of add-ons or plug-ins, etc.

Putting jQuery into action

There are two different approaches to using jQuery −

Installation on a Local System You may install jQuery on your local machine by downloading the library and including it in your HTML code.−
Installation based on CDN −
You are able to include the jQuery library into your HTML code straight from the Content Delivery Network (CDN) if you want to do so (CDN).

Example

Here is a sample jQuery example −

<script src="https://www.tutorialspoint.com/jquery/jquery-3.6.0.js"></script>
<script>
   $(document).ready(function() {
      document.write("this text in to jQuery");
   });
</script>

Difference between jQuery and JavaScript

The following table highlights the major differences between jQuery and JavaScript −

Basis of Comparison	JavaScript	jQuery
Language	It is a high-level scripting language that runs on the client side and is interpreted.	It is a JavaScript library that does not take up much space. It just has the DOM (Document Object Model).
Usage	JavaScript code is written inside the <script> tag in a HTML page.	In order for us to make use of jQuery, we have to import it either from a CDN or from a place from where the jQuery library can be downloaded. On an HTML page, the code for jQuery is further written inside of the script tag.
Animations	With a significant number of lines of code, JavaScript enables us to create animations. Changing the style of an HTML page is the primary method through which animations are created	We can create animation effects quickly and simply with jQuery, and doing so requires less lines of code.
Compatibility across many browsers	When working with JavaScript, we may need to write additional code or come up with a solution in order to address issues of browser compatibility.	jQuery is compatible with a wide variety of browsers. In order to make sure that our code is compatible with a browser, we won't need to worry about developing any workarounds or additional code.
Size and Weight	It is more cumbersome than jQuery due to the fact that it is a language.	Because it is a library, it takes up very little space. It utilises a minified version of its code, which results in a significantly reduced file size.
Responsiveness and Reliability	The code written in JavaScript may be rather lengthy, making it challenging to maintain and difficult to reuse.	Because we just need to use the predefined functions that are included inside the jQuery library, jQuery is easier to manage while having a lower number We can simply reuse jQuery methods in a variety of locations across the code.

Conclusion

To summarise, JavaScript is a programming language used for developing websites, while jQuery is a library that was developed using JavaScript as its parent. Both JavaScript and jQuery bring something unique to the website development process.