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Is it necessary to learn JavaScript before learning jQuery? [duplicate]

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Is it a good idea to learn JavaScript before learning jQuery?
I am about to start learning JavaScript. However one friend suggested me to go in for jQuery instead since he says future is jQuery. I heard that jQuery is created from JavaScript.
In short, give me one simple reason why developers like me should invest in JavaScript. What is its future?

Part of being a good programmer is having an interest in understanding how things work. You can't understand how JQuery works without knowing JavaScript.
A good programmer has a diversity of skills. Knowing both the JQuery way to do things and the JavaScript-only way makes you more versatile.
Most employers who are looking for someone who knows JQuery are probably also looking for someone who knows ordinary JavaScript.
You can never achieve true expertise in JQuery without understanding JavaScript.
Sometimes even a fairly lightweight framework is more than you need.
If you don't ever learn to do things the hard way, you won't appreciate what's so great about doing it the easy way.
Moreover, if you start by learning to do things the easier way, you'll have that much harder a time motivating yourself to learn to do it the hard way.
Learning the language first without the fancy frameworks builds character.
Who knows, maybe you'll want to make your own framework someday. Or even work on a new version of JQuery. To do that, you'll need to know the language.

jQuery is JavaScript and yes, it makes things a lot easier for you and you can use it without much JavaScript knowledge, and yes, it will probably become even more popular in the future.
BUT: Wherever is jQuery, there will be JavaScript. jQuery is "just" a tool. You still need "plain" JavaScript to solve some problems, e.g. string manipulation.
Imho: You cannot master jQuery if you don't master JavaScript.
And there will be situations where jQuery might be not the best solution, e.g. when you really need high performance.
For me, this is similar to other questions I read here on SO about web frameworks and programming languages, like: Do I have to learn/know PHP if I want to use [Zend | symfony | CodeIgniter].
Seriously: If you don't understand the basics, you cannot use a tool efficiently.

JQuery is a library, written in Javascript, the language. It is almost always the case that learning the library without learning the language is impractical if not impossible, irrespective of the library and the language in question.

jQuery will come and go.
You are a web developer, right? Javascript is huge. Think how much time people spend using a web browser. The entire time they are interfacing directly with html dom, css, and javascript. Or, less and less, flash and "actionscript" (which is basically javascript).
Learn javascript, learn css, learn the dom. Refer to ecma-262 versions 3 and 5 and publications by w3c and whatwg. Read mozdev, cross-check msdn.
After that, take a look at jQuery if you want. You will probably find that you don't need it for 99% of the stuff people use it for.

Every browser has its own implementation of Javascript ( the language ) and the DOM ( library for manipulating elements on the page ). Because of the inconsistency of each browsers Javascript + DOM with another, jQuery ( created with Javascript ) was created as a wrapper that internally deals with these inconsistencies so you can use the easy API.
Underneath the hood, most of your problems are already solved for you so you don't have to think about issues like:
invoking functionality for the DOM ready event
a consistent way of attaching event handlers for click, mouseover and other events, attaching multiple functions to the same action
returning the proper values for elements as well as viewport ( window ).
Because jQuery is a Javascript library you won't master it without mastering Javascript. See my previous answer for recommendations for learning Javascript.

You do not need to know JavaScript in order to use jQuery.
This depends what you want of course.
If you want to put together web pages and don't consider yourself the 'programming type' or you simply don't like JavaScript, then don't bother, spend your time where it will matter most.
Your also asking this question on a site where majority of users are developers so your going to get a lot of people who say you should learn JavaScript, I say learn it if it interests you.
There are pleanty of jQuery solutions out there and support so that you don't need JavaScript.

jQuery IS JavaScript. When you are writing jQuery, you are writing in javaScript. All a library like jQuery consists of is a premade collection of functions you can use in your JavaScript programs.
So, you have to know JavaScript syntax and the core language in order to use jQuery at all. A good book for that is Douglas Crockfords the Good Parts.
What you do not need to know as much about is the DOM API, since that is mainly what jQuery smooths over for you. It helps a lot to understand the concepts of the DOM, though. You still need to know what an element is, and what attributes are.
You also need to know about CSS in order to use jQuery effectively. The key concepts here are classes, IDs, positioning, visiblity and display, among others.

Yes you CAN use jQuery without knowing JavaScript. In fact, I knew very little about JavaScript originally but by using jQuery it sparked my interest to learn it and so I did. Years later I can say I am very proficient with both.

As you progress in your programmer expertise you would find that you go from library writer to library user. This is quite natural and OK. When you are starting off, all you have is the basics. You write your code in terms of those basics and over time find that you need to bunch common code in a library for easier reuse.
Sometime later you find that someone has already done just that and created a library that's even better than yours. You then switch from being library writer to library user. jQuery is one such library and you really need to know JavaScript to be able to draw a line in your head as to where jQuery is and where JavaScript is.
My advice, in light of the above, would be to learn the underlying technology before getting started with the library (which is what jQuery is). However in this case I would make an exception - skip DOM manipulation. DOM is a stupid abstraction and will have you tear your hair out in no time flat. jQuery wraps it up quite nicely, might as well get stuck into that after you understand JavaScript basics.

you can read this
edit
However one friend suggested me to go
in for jQuery instead since he says
future is jQuery.
If you go for jQuery, of course you are still learning Javascript...
You can not understand jQuery if you can not understand how Javascript works.
Some programmers learning jQuery wihtout the knowledge of javascript thought that they are learning a new programming scripting language. But they did not know that jQuery is not. They are just using jQuery as a tool. They are still coding Javascript...
If you want your Javascript codes to be cross-browser,
with less hassle, go for jQuery... but still you need the basic (or at least) knowledge of Javascript.

Reducing the need for JavaScript libraries

I'm writing several small things in JavaScript, notably a mousemove event, and a AJAX call. I don't believe that two things should necessitate loading the ~25KB that is jQuery. Add in the fact that I want as few external dependencies as possible and necessitating jQuery isn't something I want to do.
Is there a primer / tutorials on rewriting calls between a JavaScript library and pure JavaScript?
$('element')
$.get()

For the selector part $("element"), you might as well use Sizzle, which is the same library used in jQuery and other JS framworks, and is only 4kb (minified and gzipped).
As for the $.get() call, a simple wrapper around the native XMLHttpRequest object should suffice, depending on what features exactly do you want to provide. Check the Mozilla Developper Center docs for some pointers.

jQuery uses Sizzle for its selectors magic. I can't remember if it weighs 3 or 7 kB but it's a standalone library

You can study the library code, and write your own IF you want to.

What should I choose? jQuery, mootools, yui, scriptaculous or prototype?

Duplicate: Which Javascript framework (jQuery vs Dojo vs … )?
I am totally new to JavaScript, but I want to implement Ajax features into my website. Which JS framework should I learn? Please recommend or which one you are using and why you use it?

jQuery is currently extremely popular, so you're probably going to have the most luck finding recent tutorials/plugins/etc for it, as opposed to one of the other frameworks. That's probably a fairly good selling-point from the perspective of someone new to this.

Microsoft apparently blessed jQuery, so for now that's your best bet.

I'm currently writing a paper on JavaScript frameworks. After all the research I've done so far, I can tell you this...
Seriously, nobody can tell you which framework is best for you. There's only one way to find out: try playing around with all the different libraries you're considering. It's a matter of personal preference.
See this excellent JavaScript Library Overview, a presentation by John Resig (who happens to be the lead developer of jQuery). It contains small code samples for all the listed frameworks. After viewing those, you'll probably know which framework to choose, depending on which coding style you prefer.
Also, this SO topic might be of interest.

Jquery is probably the best of the lot, it actually lets you "do more, write less"

One more for Jquery..Awesome plugins!!

Built in intellisense for jQuery in VS2008 (sp1 I think?) was one consideration for us, but essentially we've played with mootools, prototype, scriptaculous and jquery, and have found jquery to be the easiest for us all to understand/support.
We have a mixed team here, and even our business logic guys can pickup the logic/approach in jquery.
We also use telerik controls, and they've now announced more support for jquery - it certainly seems its star is in the ascension.
Try all of them, but if you're from a .net background, I think it's the logical choice at the moment.

I use jQuery now because it is easy and has lots of features. Before I was using prototype and scriptaculous.

I noticed Dojo wasn't included on your list. It's a framework that's geared to heavy-weight AJAXified pages.
http://dojotoolkit.org/
That said, JQuery appears to have the most momentum at the moment, and other frameworks (like Dojo) are working on putting more JQuery-like functionality into their product, so I would recommend learning that.

Im having a really good time with jQuery myself. Thers lots of good documentation and tutorials for it, which is excellent if your new to Javascript.
If its only the ajax features your after I recommend checking out http://docs.jquery.com/Ajax . Also the tutorials at Themeforest is really brilliant. For example the jquery tutorial for absolute beginners day 10 is showing you the basics of jQuery + Ajax.

FORK Ajax. It does the job well, and it's very small (5KB minified) and simple.

I'll plug Mootools. Of course the reason anyone prefers any of these over another is "I started using XYZ first."

jQuery is my go-to framework of choice, but you really have to look at each ones' strengths and see how they align with your project
The important thing is, use a framework -- really any framework. The benefits of using a framework, no matter which one, are so enormous. The best ones get rid of all or most of the cross-browser headaches you are bound to experience.

The best thing to consider is what you want the framework for. jQuery was designed to make manipulating the DOM easier. So if that is the main focus of what you want to be doing, then great. It is a super rad framework and it is really is amazingly natural and easy to pick up.
That having been said, it is worth considering what the others have to offer. Other frameworks like prototype and mootools are most interested in turning javascript into a more powerful programming language with richer object oriented programming capabilities and functionality for arrays, strings and numbers. I don't know enough to be able to compare/contrast prototype and mootools, but maybe someone else could fill in on that.
This is a great article that explains the difference between mootools and jquery - jqueryvsmootools.com/
The good news is that you don't necessarily have to decide. Although you might occasionally come up with bugs, you should be able to use jQuery with either mootools or prototype (see here). Basically just call jQuery.noConflict(); before any script on which you want to use jQuery and everything should work just fine. This allows you to use jQuery for all of it's slick DOM manipulation and rad UI library while also giving access to a more powerful framework when that is what you need.
Please let me know if I've missed anything here and I hope this helps.

When I was new to JavaScript, after a week I found out that life is much easier with a framework. Anyway, I did not even knew, what exactly they are for; I've got some glue about $() that it's a smart replacement for window.getElementById(), and I assumed that there are some other comfortable methods for other purposes, like AJAX request.
I did not wanted to spend lot of time on learning a framework, so I was decided that I will choose that which I fall in love first sight. Then I was spending about a whole month with googling. I have not missed any of the "big names", but I dropped them soon. The main reason of the dissatisfaction was their site, the documentation: after reading a whole page of text, I was yet as dumb as before. What is it for? What they do? What is the input, what is the aim, what is the output?
Then, I found DOMAssistant. It's small, perfect, and well-documented. Just take a look on the first paragraph of the opening page, it's a totally clear definition of the JS framework:
What is DOMAssistant?
The idea of DOMAssistant is to provide
a simpler and more consistent way to
script against the Document Object
Model (DOM) in web browsers. The idea
is that everything starts with the
element(s) in question, selected
through id or CSS selectors, and then
perform various methods on it, such as
adding or removing classes, events
etc.
So, I say, if you finally choose another, more fashionable framework, DOMAssistant is a must-to-see. And if you have no need for animated flying windows, it's also a good choice.

ASP.NET MVC without MicrosoftAjax.js and MicrosoftMvcAjax.js

What parts of functionality will I lose after removing the
MicrosoftAjax.js
MicrosoftMvcAjax.js
files?
I don't want to use them for various reasons and I thought if there were any 3rd party helper methods that would mimic existing ones but are tied to another JavaScript framework, such as jQuery.
Also, please tell where usage of above javaScript files is preferrable/adviced.
Many thanks,
Valentin Vasiliev.

You won't be able to use the AjaxHelper extension methods (in the System.Web.Mvc.Ajax namespace) that are exposed by the Ajax property on the ViewPage class if you don't refer to the MicrosoftAjax scripts. They're relatively easy to replace by using the appropriate jQuery AJAX methods ($.post, $.get, $(selector).load etc) or the jQuery form plugin.
As for whether one or another is preferable or not it's down to how comfortable you are with writing your own implementation. The Ajax helper methods try to take care of a lot of things for you in terms of client script programming but that comes at a price of having to load in the pretty heavyweight MS AJAX library. Rolling your own javascript methods can lead to more lightweight code as well as providing you with a choice of javascript library to use (be it jQuery or one of the many others out there).

I agree. Just use jquery. Life is good with .net mvc 3.5 and jquery. cheers

You don't need those. Just remove them. Use JQuery instead.

JavaScript before jQuery [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Closed 13 years ago.
Duplicate:
What are some of the pros and cons of using jQuery?
Should I avoid using a JavaScript library while learning how to write AJAX client code?
I've read it so many times... "I'd learn JavaScript before learning something like jQuery" - but is this really necessary for every situation? Sure, some people like to know what's going on under the hood, but are there any serious negative side effect of heading straight for jQuery tutorials/books? I want to learn something in my spare time and I've decided on jQuery (or JavaScript if anyone can convince me strongly enough).

jQuery is a library, not a language. You've essentially said, "I am thinking of learning how to write English songs. Some people say that you should learn English first, but I'm not convinced that it's worthwhile, I just want to rock."
You can probably still pick up jQuery without learning JavaScript first, but you ultimately will understand nothing of how jQuery is actually working and likely just come to accept that it's magic. Good luck when jQuery breaks or doesn't work how you expected it and can't figure out why your code is broken.
JavaScript is a beautiful language, and worth learning in its own right. Start here: Eloquent Javascript.

The reason of the typical recommendation "learn JS before jQuery" is because you'll find yourself too many times asking yourself how some jQuery snippet works, when it's not a problem of jQuery but JS syntax / etc (e.g. closures).
Go for JS, you won't be disappointed.

That's like asking if it's worth learning learning Objective-C before using Cocoa. It's kind of a weird question, because Cocoa is in Objective-C, much the same way as jQuery is written in JavaScript. When you learn jQuery, you learn some JavaScript whether you like it or not.
I think what you're wondering is more along the lines of "should I learn the underlying JavaScript that jQuery bypasses with its core library and plugins?" It depends on the circumstance, of course; if you need code in a hurry, you're much better off learning jQuery alone. But since your goal seems to be to learn something in your spare time, I personally think it's a good idea to learn basic JavaScript before diving into jQuery:
If you ever need to figure out how the internals of jQuery works, you'll need to know core JavaScript. This is especially important given how many jQuery plugins are out there.
If you ever need to extend jQuery or plugin functionality, you may have to know more detailed JavaScript.
If all you know is jQuery, you'll find it harder to work with other frameworks and/or vanilla JavaScript if you ever find yourself in that situation.

There is no question about it. jQuery is JavaScript. You'll be handicapping yourself severely if you jump straight into jQuery. Your code will be slow and unmaintainable. jQuery is an API, it's not a language.
In fact, you could try jumping into jQuery but I doubt you'll get very far without being frustrated with hurdles that would be otherwise trivial. At the very least, you should understand the concepts in Re-introduction to JavaScript.

It's very good advice actually.
The problem is this. Javascript doesn't work the same way most of the other popular languages work. If you dive into Javascript with the idea that it is similar to Java, C#, Perl, PHP, etc, then you'll end up thinking Javascript is a bizarre, inconsistent mutant language that makes no effing sense whatsoever. This isn't because Javascript makes no sense, it's because Javascript is different at its foundations. Javascript is an object oriented language, but it isn't class based, it's prototype based. The syntax is similar enough to where you could work just fine thinking Javascript was class based up until the point where everything goes horribly wrong.
Learn Javascript first, at least the fundamentals. It's not that difficult, you don't even need a special IDE or compiler since you can just use a browser or WSH. Learning the fundamentals of Javascript will definitely pay off if you're using jQuery.

A lot of learning and using jQuery comes for free to begin with and can be motivating as it provides an immediate sense of productivity. There does come a point however, where you need to understand JavaScript in order to use jQuery effectively or any other JavaScript framework for that matter. This is particularly pertinent for example, when writing plugins and utility functions.

For the same reason VB6 programmers needed to understand the Windows API to get anything done, and VB.NET and C# programmers need to at least know what MSIL looks like, you should be familiar enough with JavaScript to understand what jQuery is doing. There's a lot of far-out stuff built into JavaScript that most people never need to use, but if you don't know it exists, you'll always overlook good solutions to your problems.

JQUERY is just a library, not a substitue for language like JAVASCRIPT. You wont be going ahead in the field of the softare developement by just learning the LIBRARY. Basic understanding of the core langauge is always the better way to go. And of course, once you have that grasp, then you can and should definitley use libary like JQUERY.

I feel rather strongly that JavaScript is a more important concept than jQuery or any of it's siblings. These libraries are wonderful, and I can hardly imagine doing anything in the client without their help, but by themselves they only provide some tools and a bit of flashy polish. To actually accomplish any real logic, you will need a good understanding of JavaScript and the objects that are available in the browser.

Short answer to your question is yes if you ever have written anything in any normal language.
If you want to know why, watch JavaScript the good parts by Douglas Crockford (JS guru).