[Javascript] Using libraries for everything (Was: Listing Images on current page)

[Terry Bader]

i absolutely disagree.  for one the problem is not "trival"  though the answer is only a few lines long it is not trival for sure and his overall project was not described and offering a library that can do many things might actually benefit it on the whole.

secondly, all of todays programming languages (which i use loosely with js) are based on libraries.  some are builtin and others are developed by other users, or your own personal libraries.  thus to say that using libraries is inappropiate is far fetched...  using them wisely as you pointed out is however essential...

but i want to point out, i just suggested looking into it...  i firmly believe that people learn faster when you give them tools and in the hopes of learning something new, the proverbial light bulb might click on when they learn that jquery (or any other extensive library) can add on or give them new ideas about things they are currently doing.  ie. he wants to search images...  maybe next he wants them flying around and then he learns that he can use something called ajax to pull data from the server to do something else.... 

so if you have not explored jquery, i strongly suggest you look at it (keyword look)...  it can open up possibilities that you did not realize before...  it may not be for you, but then again it may be exactly what you are looking for...

~Terry

----------------------------------------
From: Scott Reynen <scott at randomchaos.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 12:42 PM
To: JavaScript List <javascript at lists.evolt.org>
Subject: [Javascript] Using libraries for everything (Was: Listing Images on current page) 

On Sep 6, 2007, at 10:21 AM, Terry Bader wrote:

>>>> How do I get a list of the images on the current page ?

>>> You could do this using a library like jquery...
>>
>> Loading a 20K library seems a little excessive for such a trivial  
>> task:

> thats only one of the many many things you can do...
>
> and if you havent been introduced to it, then check it out...

I find jquery incredibly useful, but it's really inappropriate for  
this problem.  It's not only completely unnecessary, as Nick pointed  
out, but throwing a library at concepts you don't understand pretty  
much guarantees you'll never learn.  It's like suggesting someone use  
a calculator when they ask how to do addition.  Here's a good article  
on the topic:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/LeakyAbstractions.html

"Code generation tools which pretend to abstract out something, like  
all abstractions, leak, and the only way to deal with the leaks  
competently is to learn about how the abstractions work and what they  
are abstracting. "

Peace,
Scott

_______________________________________________
Javascript mailing list
Javascript at lists.evolt.org
http://lists.evolt.org/mailman/listinfo/javascript


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.evolt.org/pipermail/javascript/attachments/20070906/02b8aad4/attachment.htm>