Javascript: The Dollar Sign ($) (VIDEO)

Ever viewed the source of a modern web page to see how the designers and developers are doing something in Javascript, then come across the dollar sign ($) all over the place?

The first time I noticed it was already several years ago, and I remember being intimidated, simply because I was not familiar with it and I worried that it was some part of Javascript I had never learned about — some strange syntactical magic or something like that.

I ignored it for a long time.  For me — and, I imagine, for many programmers who started their careers prior to the 21st Century –, Javascript was a side show in which I participated only out of occasional necessity.  When I came across something mysterious, I had no desire to dig deeper.  My attitude was that if other programmers — probably younger — wanted to dabble with such a loser language and get all crafty and mysterious with it, then let them waste their time.

Well, as this blog will frequently show, I’ve dropped that attitude completely.  I now rate Javascript among one of the cool and fun things to talk about on Such Fun Coding.

Several months ago I took the time to get past my fear of that darn dollar sign and learn more about it.  What I learned is that there is nothing magical at all about the dollar sign.

My first Such Fun Coding video is dedicated to sharing that fact with others and explaining precisely what the dollar sign is.

UPDATE: the source code for the slideshow is available at my github account.

The Javascript: Dollar Sign video can also be found at YouTube.