Introduction

jQuery is currently the most popular JavaScript DOM manipulation library and provides an abstracted layer for interacting with the DOM in a safe, cross-browser manner. Interestingly, the library also serves as an example of how design patterns can be effectively used to create an API which is both readable and easy to use.

Whilst in many cases the core contributors that wrote jQuery didn't set out to use specific patterns, they exist there regardless and are useful to learn from. Let's take a look at what some of these patterns are and how they are used in the API.