I don’t see how using a javascript framework is any different in this respect than using third-party software, classes, APIs etc. You can use Google maps’ API without intimate knowledge of the code that runs it, can’t you? If not, you might want to up your workload slightly ;)

Of course you do, and if you consistently find a need for certain behaviors you have undoubtedly also built up a sizable collection of reusable code that you have tweaked and massaged over the years.

You’ve built a framework, whether you recognize it or not. It may not feel like it, because it’s your particular framework, well suited to exactly the sorts of things you need it to do. But it is a framework.

You understand it intimately, as should anyone proficient with any framework he uses.

Sure, some folks will approach the framework at the surface level — they’ll understand every nuance of the API — while others will want to dive deeper (like me). Personally, I would never use a framework I hadn’t at least peeked under the hood at, but with a sufficient trust of the source (based on past personal experience or the past experience of others I trust) my need to dig down goes down… until it comes time to extend the framework, of course. ;-)

If you install an entire framework to get a single effect then you are certainly importing a load of un-needed functions, but those functions are nothing special - they will slow down the page load, but are very unlikely to impact on the speed of any existing functions.

I started looking into some JavaScript libraries just for the fact that they took care of so much of the basics (like cross browser event attaching/handling) nicely. They basically do the same thing on other fronts too.

So in some sense, I do agree with the person who said developers who don’t use frameworks are irresponsible. How many developers will write their scripts perfectly cross browser and optimized for performance out of the gate? If you can, then great, but I think 99% of the time the fact is that the libraries are so well optimized that they are actually faster than an ad-hoc piece of code. Of course not for something basic where the abstraction is for nothing, but most people can’t write GetElementBy CSS-selector equivalents and apply numerous effects to object that will run faster than a quality JS library does.

Finally, let’s face it, the number of good JavaScript programmers has always been low. With all of the libraries around, the vast majority of cut and paste JavaScripters has improved their code and codebase a thousandfold easily.

I started looking into some JavaScript libraries just for the fact that they took care of so much of the basics (like cross browser event attaching/handling) nicely. They basically do the same thing on other fronts too.

So in some sense, I do agree with the person who said developers who don’t use frameworks are irresponsible. How many developers will write their scripts perfectly cross browser and optimized for performance out of the gate? If you can, then great, but I think 99% of the time the fact is that the libraries are so well optimized that they are actually faster than an ad-hoc piece of code. Of course not for something basic where the abstraction is for nothing, but most people can’t write GetElementBy CSS-selector equivalents and apply numerous effects to object that will run faster than a quality JS library does.

Finally, let’s face it, the number of good JavaScript programmers has always been low. With all of the libraries around, the vast majority of cut and paste JavaScripters has improved their code and codebase a thousandfold easily.

actually… I think you’re dead on! I second that.

I’m under the pump every minute of every day to produce great results in record time and frameworks allow my productivity to skyrocket. Yes, I fully admit that I don’t know how jQuery works fully but until I need to, I’m just going to get on with doing my job and pleasing the people that pay my mortgage.