Thursday, January 5, 2012

Comparing Dart, jQuery, CoffeeScript, CoffeeScript+jQuery, and JavaScript

UPDATE: Thanks to Ayose Cazorla we now have CoffeeScript+jQuery examples. And thanks to js2coffee.org we have vanilla CoffeeScript.

A neat comparison between jQuery and vanilla JavaScript hit Google+ via +Eric Bidelman, so I thought it would be fun to add vanilla Dart to the mix.

This is a fun experiment, but please don't base your decision to use one option or another based on this isolated blog post. Take a holistic approach to your evaluation.

Document is ready


// jQuery

$(document).ready(function() {
  // code…
});

// vanilla JavaScript

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
  // code…
});

// vanilla Dart

window.on.contentLoaded.add((e) => code);

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

$ -> code

// vanilla CoffeeScript

document.addEventListener "DOMContentLoaded", ->
  # code

Find all divs

// jQuery

var divs = $("div");

// vanilla JavaScript

var divs = document.querySelectorAll("div");

// vanilla Dart

var divs = document.queryAll("div");

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

divs = $ "div"

// vanilla CoffeeScript

divs = document.querySelectorAll("div")

Create a new div

// jQuery

var newDiv = $("<div/>");

// vanilla JavaScript

var newDiv = document.createElement("div");

// vanilla Dart

var newDiv = new Element.tag("div");

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

divs = $ "<div>"

// vanilla CoffeeScript

newDiv = document.createElement("div")

Add a class


// jQuery

newDiv.addClass("foo");

// vanilla JavaScript

newDiv.classList.add("foo");

// vanilla Dart

newDiv.classes.add("foo");

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

newDiv.addClass "foo"

// vanilla CoffeeScript

newDiv.classList.add "foo"

Toggle a class

// jQuery

newDiv.toggleClass("foo");

// vanilla JavaScript

newDiv.classList.toggle("foo");

// vanilla Dart

// doesn't work yet, see bug http://code.google.com/p/dart/issues/detail?id=1063
// newDiv.classes.toggle("foo");

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

newDiv.toggleClass "foo"

// vanilla CoffeeScript

newDiv.classList.toggle "foo"

Add a click handler for each <a>

// jQuery

$("a").click(function() {
  // code…
})

// vanilla JavaScript

[].forEach.call(document.querySelectorAll("a"), function(el) {
  el.addEventListener("click", function() {
    // code…
  });
});

// vanilla Dart

document.queryAll("a").forEach((el) {
    el.on.click.add((e) => code);
});

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

$("a").click -> code

// vanilla CoffeeScript

[].forEach.call document.querySelectorAll("a"), (el) ->
  el.addEventListener "click", ->
    # code

Append a new <p> to <body>

// jQuery

$("body").append($("<p/>"));

// vanilla JavaScript

document.body.appendChild(document.createElement("p"));

// vanilla Dart

document.body.nodes.add(new Element.tag("p"));

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

$("body").append $("<p>")

// vanilla CoffeeScript

document.body.appendChild document.createElement("p")

Add attribute to an element

// jQuery

$("img").filter(":first").attr("alt", "My image");

// vanilla JavaScript

document.querySelector("img").setAttribute("alt", "My image");

// vanilla Dart

document.query("img").attributes['alt'] = 'My image';

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

$("img:first").attr "alt", "My image"

// vanilla CoffeeScript

document.querySelector("img").setAttribute "alt", "My image"

Get parent node

// jQuery

var parent = $("#about").parent();

// vanilla JavaScript

var parent = document.getElementById("about").parentNode;

// vanilla Dart

var parent = document.query("#about").parent;

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

parent = $("#about").parent()

// vanilla CoffeeScript

parent = document.getElementById("about").parentNode

Clone an element

// jQuery

var clonedElement = $("#about").clone();

// vanilla JavaScript

var clonedElement = document.getElementById("about").cloneNode(true);

// vanilla Dart

var clonedElement = document.query("#about").clone(true);

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

clonedElement = $("#about").clone()

// vanilla CoffeeScript

clonedElement = document.getElementById("about").cloneNode(true)

Clear child nodes

// jQuery

$("#wrap").empty();

// vanilla JavaScript

var wrap = document.getElementById("wrap");
while(wrap.firstChild) wrap.removeChild(wrap.firstChild);

// vanilla Dart

document.query("#wrap").nodes.clear();

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

$("#wrap").empty()

// vanilla CoffeeScript

wrap = document.getElementById("wrap")
wrap.removeChild wrap.firstChild  while wrap.firstChild

Check if element has child nodes

// jQuery

if($("#wrap").is(":empty")) { ... }

// vanilla JavaScript

if(!document.getElementById("wrap").hasChildNodes()) { ... }

// vanilla Dart

if (document.query("#wrap").nodes.isEmpty()) { ... }

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

if $("#wrap").is(":empty")
  code

// vanilla CoffeeScript

code  unless document.getElementById("wrap").hasChildNodes()

Get next sibling element

// jQuery

var nextElement = $("#wrap").next();

// vanilla JavaScript

var nextElement = document.getElementById("wrap").nextSibling;

// vanilla Dart

var nextElement = document.query("#wrap").nextNode;

// CoffeeScript+jQuery

nextElement = $("#wrap").next()

// vanilla CoffeeScript

nextElement = document.getElementById("wrap").nextSibling

Next Steps

Like what you see? Learn more about Dart, its HTML libraries, and join the discussion. File a new issue if you see something missing.

Also, follow @dart_lang and +Dart Bits for more info!

16 comments:

Abraham Williams said...

Thanks for the quick comparison Seth. It is nice seeing the different design approaches each one takes.

Josette Rigsby said...

Great post. Thanks.

Christian Grobmeier said...

I like this post, thanks. Just one question... I always thought Dart is not running until the DOM isn't fully loaded. Now you showing me an approach to wait for that event - was I wrong with my assumption?

Mark Essel said...

This is a nifty comparison, don't suppose CoffeeScript belongs in this mix?

pierotofy said...

jQuery still has the least surprising syntax in my opinion.

sethladd said...

Good point, if you can provide it, I'll happily add it.

sethladd said...

The Frog code that I've seen runs main() as soon as it loads the script. https://gist.github.com/1385015

Ayose said...

The jQuery+CS are in https://gist.github.com/1594433

zachleat said...

$("img").filter(":first").attr("alt", "My image");

is probably better written as:
$("img").eq(0).attr("alt", "My image");

Steve Howell said...

Does it make sense to put the CoffeeScript examples directly under their corresponding JavaScript examples?

Vsm said...

Christian's right.  On the command line (your link), main would fire right away, but in the browser, it should wait for the DOM to be loaded.

sethladd said...

Hi Vijay,

The Frog code says otherwise. Is that a bug with Frog?

sethladd said...

I've created a bug for this, please star to track. Comments welcome!

http://code.google.com/p/dart/issues/detail?id=1161

zachleat said...

Yeah, it was when I wrote the comment. It's been fixed.

Nicholas Libby said...

For document load in jQuery, can't we just say $(function { code } ); ?

Garrick Cheung said...

Here are MooTools snippets: https://gist.github.com/1671527