In order to know jQuery, do I have to know JavaScript first?

Question

In order to know jQuery, do I have to know JavaScript first?

Answer 1

My answer is also YES and Here are the reasons in this nice article:

Learning Javascript or Simply the JS Frameworks?

Quoting main reasons from above article:

• Frameworks don’t do it all.

Whereas frameworks and code libraries often take a lot of the heavy lifting when coding up sites, they can’t do it all. If you come along and think “I need to do this” and your framework does not provide such a function, you’re stuck up a creek without one very handy paddle.

• Employment

Imagine you’ve spent 9 years working with jQuery but never took the time, for whatever reason, to fully learn Javascript. Then you see the perfect job vacancy, javascript developer at a well respected company with very good pay. You’re thinking to yourself that they HAVE to pick you, you’ve worked with javascript for so long, but when you arrive and they ask you about your knowledge of javascript, you’re in trouble.

• Easier to pick up the framework

If you’ve spent a period of time with javascript, the syntax that jQuery (and most other javascript frameworks) uses is going to be a lot easier to pick up and a lot easier to master.

• Edit the Source and Plug In!

It’s always great fun to dive into the code and edit the library to suit yourself, you can add your own functions when you find a gap in the library

It is also discussed before:

Is it a good idea to learn JavaScript before learning jQuery?

Answer 2

Yes. jQuery is a Javascript library. You can only use it from Javascript code, so you need to know some Javascript in order to call it.