Could Microsoft be learning the way things work on the web? That big software company in Redmond will include JavaScript framework jQuery in its development environment. At the same time, Nokia announced that it will use jQuery for its mobile-browser development. That’s two more big companies to join Google, Amazon and thousands of other sites using jQuery.
Microsoft has long struggled to keep up with advances in JavaScript. In July the company announced an Ajax roadmap, which looked like Microsoft was going to eventually re-create all the features already in popular frameworks. Instead, Microsoft is going to incorporate someone else’s code, and it’s open source code at that.
How’s this for cool–Intellisense support for jQuery in ASP.NET:
This is a great move by Microsoft to avoid creating its own jQuery-like framework. The company that seems to always require others to change is adapting to the way things already are on the web. It couldn’t have made a better choice in jQuery, which is a fast, nimble framework, two adjectives not often used to describe anything related to MS web development.
Scott Hanselman has a good overview of how jQuery/ASP.NET code looks. If you aren’t a .NET developer, but you’d like to use jQuery, check out my jQuery tutorial.
[Screenshot by Scott Hanselman]
See also:
- Microsoft Dons Sheep Suit, Joins Open Source Foundation
- Learn jQuery From Someone Younger Than JavaScript
- Easy XML Consumption Using jQuery