Microsoft beats us to official JQuery support, Do we care?

Is it of any concern that more and more take up the JQuery banner? Why didn't they pick Prototype and Scriptaculous? Seems like we jumped on the REST bandwagon pretty quick but we hold to P&S in face of its ever growing popularity and adoption. Is Rails leadership tied to P&S on a more emotional level then they were with SOAP? Heck I don't know, I'm no expert, its just that it seems there has been a call for JQuery on Rails as the official library and yet in spite of this and in deference to what we are seeing at large the response from the Rails leaders seems to be something akin to "We don't care whats going on, we are P&S no matter what". Not to say P&S is bad, not at all, but then SOAP wasn't bad either and we made the change.

What do you think?

ChessMess wrote:

Is it of any concern that more and more take up the JQuery banner? Why didn't they pick Prototype and Scriptaculous? Seems like we jumped on the REST bandwagon pretty quick but we hold to P&S in face of its ever growing popularity and adoption. Is Rails leadership tied to P&S on a more emotional level then they were with SOAP? Heck I don't know, I'm no expert, its just that it seems there has been a call for JQuery on Rails as the official library and yet in spite of this and in deference to what we are seeing at large the response from the Rails leaders seems to be something akin to "We don't care whats going on, we are P&S no matter what". Not to say P&S is bad, not at all, but then SOAP wasn't bad either and we made the change.

What do you think?

jQuery is my preferred framework and the one I use in Rails (via the jRails plugin). But IMHO, the semantics of Prototype better fit that of jQuery's and that's why it is the default javascript library shipped with Rails. That shouldn't stop you though from using the javascript framework of your choice.

Back in the days where Rails incorporated the javascript helpers, jQuery was nowhere near P&S. Also, Prototype has a Ruby-esque syntax, in the RUBY on rails context I find this a very valid choice. If you’re only using the Javascript helpers within Rails, it shouldn’t matter to you whether it uses Prototype, JQuery, YUI, Dojo, … The Rails code will be exactly the same. If you’re used to writing your Javascript code yourself, there’s nothing holding you back from using another library in your Rails app, just don’t count on the Javascript helpers anymore (or use the jrails plugin if you really have to).

Best regards

Peter De Berdt

Back in the days where Rails incorporated the javascript helpers,
jQuery was nowhere near P&S. Also, Prototype has a Ruby-esque syntax,
in the RUBY on rails context I find this a very valid choice. If
you're only using the Javascript helpers within Rails, it shouldn't
matter to you whether it uses Prototype, JQuery, YUI, Dojo, … The
Rails code will be exactly the same. If you're used to writing your
Javascript code yourself, there's nothing holding you back from using
another library in your Rails app, just don't count on the Javascript
helpers anymore (or use the jrails plugin if you really have to).

All true. In my opinion if you've just using the helpers to generate code, it doesn't make the blindest bit of difference whether that helper is generating JS that uses prototype or scriptaculous. And if you're writing the code yourself (which you should to get the most out of the either of them - rjs is a crutch) then which one Rails ships with doesn't make the blindest bit of difference.

Fred

Well given that the majority of the web development world is throwing its weight behind JQuery, I will be picking up a JQ book and will look to code my future Rails apps using it. Nothing against P&S, but I want to focus my time on the top libraries and its pretty clear given all the recent activity and the exponentially growing community behind JQ that its (for now) top dog.

Awesome, a JQuery drop in replacement for P&S :

The migration continues, whether or not 37 Signals wants to acknowledge it.

It’s been around for quite a while and it has nothing to do with rails, nor will it ever get into rails.

This plugin is a nice piece of work and is ideal for people who like to use jquery plugins without actually knowing how to do decent javascript programming imho. Jquery has always been about unobtrusive javascript and keeping inline javascript out and this plugin does exactly the opposite (just like the prototype/scriptaculous helpers do btw).

Let me put this straight, I love both Prototype/Scriptaculous and JQuery, and I’d use either one depending on the project I’m working on and the requirements. I will choose the one that offers me “the path of least resistance”. But all this “there can only be one” is just plain bullocks. Prototype/scriptaculous was an obvious choice to be bundled with Rails: it uses a ruby-like syntax.

The only thing these plugins do, is provide you with options. There is no migration, there probably never will be one and 37signals couldn’t care less, because they see Rails as a means of producing profitable web applications, and how right they are.

Best regards

Peter De Berdt