The Greatest Libraries Since Alexandria
Posted by There are any number of JavaScript code libraries that increase productivity, reduce errors, and enhance the user experience. So… which rise to the top and which are just flotsam and jetsam? There are a few things to consider when evaluating a library.
- Does it do what you need it to do?
- How flexible and extensible is the framework?
- What is the cost to the end user?
- Is the documentation adequate?
The first point of consideration for any library is whether or not it will help you accomplish your requirements. The library may have any number of components built in that either accomplish what you need or give you a great running start. It is unlikely that any existing add-ons do exactly what you need without adjustments to the html, css, or script itself. The more extensible the library, the greater the potential you have to match what you initially envisioned.
It is often a difficult decision to select a framework that is only as “heavy” as it needs to be to accomplish your requirements while still making sure that your code is “future proof.” Ideally, you want a framework that will allow you to do the really amazing things you have yet to dream up.
The nice thing is that many of these frameworks allow you to build a custom package by selecting the individual components you need at any given time. If you need additional components, you have the ability to export a new custom package that matches your new requirements. Because of this, it is highly recommended that customizations be external to the base library so that no code is lost moving forward.
A second commonly-used technique is to reference the library via a third-party site. For instance, jQuery (an extremely versatile library) can be referenced directly from the Google domain. Because javascript is cached, in most cases, on the client side, a user who has visited any site referencing a third-party script may already have the contents cached by the time they visit your site. The more developers take advantage of this technique, the more advantageous it becomes.
The best libraries are fully documented and have a large support community and useful forums that can help you out in a pinch. Without support, a great library can quickly become a huge frustration point when things don’t work as you expect.
Here are some of the top libraries:
jQuery (Current Release 1.8.0)
“jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development. jQuery is designed to change the way that you write JavaScript.”
Dojo Toolkit (Current Release 1.8)
“Dojo saves you time and scales with your development process, using web standards as its platform. It’s the toolkit experienced developers turn to for building high quality desktop and mobile web applications.”
MooTools (Current Release 1.4.5)
“MooTools is a compact, modular, Object-Oriented JavaScript framework designed for the intermediate to advanced JavaScript developer. It allows you to write powerful, flexible, and cross-browser code with its elegant, well documented, and coherent API.”
Prototype (Current Release 1.7.1)
“Prototype is a JavaScript Framework that aims to ease development of dynamic web applications.”
Yahoo User Interface (Current Release 3.6.0)
“YUI is a free, open source JavaScript and CSS framework for building richly interactive web applications.”
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