# Do you prefer JQuery or Prototype? Why?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/do-you-prefer-jquery-or-prototype-why/136164>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 29, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/do-you-prefer-jquery-or-prototype-why/136164 "2008-04-29T15:38:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![miken700](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@miken700](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miken700)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/do-you-prefer-jquery-or-prototype-why/136164/1 "2008-04-29T15:38:02Z")

</div>

Hey folks,

I’m about to start a new project and I’m considering using JQuery  
instead of Prototype because I’ve heard that a lot of people like it.  
I’ve looked at a lot of JQuery documentation, but I don’t see what makes  
it so different than Prototype.

Do you prefer JQuery? Why? or why not?

Mike

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![miken700](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@miken700](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miken700)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/do-you-prefer-jquery-or-prototype-why/136164/2 "2008-04-29T16:04:26Z")

</div>

I prefer jquery now because it’s shown me the benefit of writing  
unobtrusive javascript. Prototype lends itself to being embedded in  
the source, while jquery was built from the ground up to be put in an  
external file, where you add behaviours to HTML elements at load time.

I also find the api much, much cleaner.

Jason

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 9:38 AM, Mike Nicholaides

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![miken700](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@miken700](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miken700)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/do-you-prefer-jquery-or-prototype-why/136164/3 "2008-04-29T23:52:05Z")

</div>

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 9:03 AM, Jason R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> 

I have to second all of Jason’s points. I also find it easier to write  
rspecs for and to debug generally, especially when doing AJAX stuff.

OTH, I haven’t found a good way to spec out the jquery calls  
themselves…This might require a bit of Selenium or Watir. At this  
moment this is a hole in my overall coverage.

Ed

–  
Ed Howland

> **[Green Programming](http://greenprogrammer.blogspot.com)**
>
> Environmentally safe code

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![miken700](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@miken700](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miken700)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/do-you-prefer-jquery-or-prototype-why/136164/4 "2008-04-30T00:01:29Z")

</div>

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 7:03 AM, Jason R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> Prototype lends itself to being embedded in the source,

Not being argumentative, but can you expand on that?

–  
Hassan S. ------------------------ removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid