---
slug: jqueries
title: "jQueries"
date: "2022-09-11T07:23:10-04:00"
draft: true
---
Several of my coworkers do not like [jQuery][].  A lot of folks say
that the modern [DOM][] and cross-browser compatibility are now good
enough that [you might not need jQuery][].  Other common arguments
against [jQuery][] are code bloat and security.

My personal opinion is a bit more nuanced.  I agree that [jQuery][]
isn't *necessary* for new projects and that the modern [DOM][] is
usually sufficient.

That said, [if it ain't broke, don't fix it][fix].  It often takes 
less effort to maintain [jQuery][] in an existing application than it
does to remove [jQuery][] and replace it with something else.

Also, consistency is important.  If a team of developers is working on
several applications, then consistency between code bases is often more
important than using the latest technology or the best technique.
Using consistent dependencies, idioms, and formatting reduces the
[cognitive load][] for the entire team.

In the case where a team is creating a new application and that team
already maintains several existing [jQuery][] applications, I would
argue in favor of using [jQuery][] for the new application as long as
the version of [jQuery][] is kept up to date.

Even as someone who [cares about page size][shrinkage] and [literally
measures JavaScript size by the byte][js-byte-size]), I don't
find the arguments about bloat compelling; [jQuery 3.6.1][] (the current
version as of this writing) is 90kb minified, and 30kb compressed. Slim
builds are even smaller (73kb and 25kb, respectively).  That is
relatively small 

[jquery]: https://jquery.com/
  "jQuery"
[you might not need jquery]: https://youmightnotneedjquery.com/
  "You might not need jQuery."
[dom]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_Object_Model
  "Document Object Model"
[fix]: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/if+it+ain%27t+broke%2c+don%27t+fix+it
  "If something is performing or functioning well enough, there's no need to change or interfere with it as you may introduce new problems as a result."
[cognitive load]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_load
  "Measure of perceived mental effort."
[jquery 3.6.1]: https://blog.jquery.com/2022/08/26/jquery-3-6-1-maintenance-release/
  "jQuery 3.6.1, the current version of jQuery as of this writing."
[shrinkage]: {{< relref "posts/2022-01-28-media-shrinkage.md" >}}
  "Post about compressing media assets and enabling compression in Apache."
[js-byte-size]: https://git.pablotron.org/sites/pablotron.org/plain/themes/hugo-pt2021/assets/script.js
  "Comment about byte count from unminified JavaScript for this site."
[javascript]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript
  "JavaScript programming language."