jQuery underwent some changes in the latest 1.3.1 release, including the elimination of browser sniffing and speed improvements. While I am a regular user of jQuery and I find it useful, I am not an evangelist proclaiming it’s glory. It has problems, and I am often frustrated by approaches taken by the core development team, most recently in a thread on the jQuery Dev group called IE6 feature detection – possible solution.
Then last week, David Mark – a regular contributor to comp.lang.javascript and someone with a lot of javascript knowledge – started a thread called jQuery’s latest stab at competence.
He raises some good technical criticisms of jQuery, and the thread goes on quite long. I voice my opinion as well (we have often clashed in the past on the use of jQuery). For someone who is interested in a deeper understanding of the design of jQuery, some of its technical faults, and a look into whether it’s actually a library that should be recommended, I would recommend reading through these two threads.