

Ask HN: jQuery for Large Applications - ashitvora

I have been using jQuery since a year and a half now and I really like the simplicity of it. But I normally use it for DOM manipulation.<p>What would you use for full fledge javascript applications like New Twitter, Gmail, etc.
======
willydaemon
You're likely over-considering the scale of your application if you're
worrying about whether or not jQuery is adequate for the job. The biggest
sites on the internet often depend on jQuery and its a very proven solution.
Either you're designing an over-complicated behemoth if you're worrying about
jQuery, or you're worrying about a non-issue.

jQuery is still just fine for large-scale applications. You can organize the
code any way you have to. Its just Javascript after all.

If your app gets so large that multiple people are doing Javascript though,
what you need to do is work on what is considered the boring stuff like
version control policies, build processes (look at stuff like Sprockets
(<http://getsprockets.org/>) for some inspiration for instance.

Other than that, jQuery is likely to be a fantastic choice in virtually any
front-end engineering that you do.

------
bloomshed
My project is using jQuery right now but I don't know how scalable it will be
long term. Are large volumes of users a concern with jQ? \- - - - - - - - -

Forgive my elementary level question. I'm not a programmer, I'm just trying to
learn about what my contracted coder is doing.

~~~
ashitvora
No. I mean to say, jQuery is good at DOM manipulation but a large Javascript
Application involves alot than just DOM manipulation.

So is it better to write naked javascript or use any other framework?

I read some where people using YUI, Dojo Toolkit, etc.

~~~
byoung2
_So is it better to write naked javascript or use any other framework_

Naked Javascript can exist alongside jQuery, and jQuery can exist alongside
other frameworks as well, so if there is something that jQuery will make
easier, use it. If there are things that plan Javascript can do just fine, use
that. Choose the best tools for the job, I say.

------
bwh2
I would use both jQuery and Underscore.js.

------
nands
jQuery will act as more of a tool rather than the core for your application.
It gets done a lot of things fast and efficiently. Your application design
will decide how it performs on user's browser. Performance and resource wise I
find jQuery very satisfactory.

