One of the principal reasons for creating or using a JavaScript library is to ease repetitive or complex tasks. After all, you can't fundamentally change a language with a plugin or library—all you can do is augment or alter the existing functionality.
As we discussed in Chapter 1, The Entrance of JavaScript into Mainstream Programming, JavaScript's early history was a bit of a Wild West scenario. The browser wars were in full effect, features were not standardized, and even making an Ajax call required two different sets of code: one for Internet Explorer and one for the other browsers.
Enter jQuery in 2006, created by John Resign.
The lack of standardization across browsers was the impetus for creating jQuery. From DOM manipulation to Ajax calls, the syntax and structure of jQuery are a "write once, use in all browsers" paradigm. With the development of ES6 and beyond, JavaScript is getting more standardized. However, there's over a decade of...