jQuery is popular because you don't need any programming experience to be productive. I was introduced to jQuery by our in-house web designer like 3 years ago because he used it and really liked it. He spoke HTML, the DOM and CSS and so does jQuery. And there are far more HTML/CSS literate people doing Javascript than there are CS-educated software engineers doing Javascript. In fact most software engineers I know don't know crap about Javascript. Thankfully I read "Javascript: The Good Parts" and have a much better appreciation for the language.
I also like jQuery as well. If you're doing simple DOM manipulation, AJAX and light javascript work it's hard to do any better. But I think there are superior choices for some more heavy lifting JS projects.
I also like jQuery as well. If you're doing simple DOM manipulation, AJAX and light javascript work it's hard to do any better. But I think there are superior choices for some more heavy lifting JS projects.