javascript libraries

[hisoka]

JavaScript library

 

I could not quite understand the term "library" . What is a library ? is there a simple and easy definition for the word library ?

[justsomeguy]

jQuery is a library. It is a collection of code written to make certain tasks easier.

[hisoka]

"It is a collection of code written to make certain tasks easier".

 

So predefined functions , like apply() or eval() or charCodeAt() , are libraries as they are little piece of code written and used to make certain task easier??? like calculating or encapsulation of data . This is useful for human beings . Is not it ?

[justsomeguy]

I wouldn't refer to predefined functions as necessarily being a library, they are part of the core language. Libraries are typically third-party collections that you import and use.

[hisoka]

according to what you wrote , a library is a code written to make certain tasks easier . This code is typically a third-party code that is imported and used . A normal written script in a website can be imported and used too by million of people to make certain tasks easier . A program which is a code can be downloaded from a third party and used to make certain task easier. So I do not see any difference between a code , a library and a program . So what is a library?

Edited March 11, 2015 by hisoka

[justsomeguy]

Some libraries might be considered programs, but libraries don't "do" things by themselves. If you put jQuery on a page nothing will happen other than a lot of things getting defined. The page itself will not change, not until you actually use the library in your own code.I don't use the term "a code", or "codes", I use code as plural, e.g. "a file full of code". If I'm referring to a program I call it a program, not "a code". I might refer to "a piece of code" as part of a larger program.

A normal written script in a website can be imported and used too by million of people to make certain tasks easier

Not the way a library can. You don't need to change libraries. If you take a script off of someone else's site you'll need to change it to work on your site. When you import and use jQuery you don't change jQuery, you just use it.

[hisoka]

we cannot change a library . A library can be used or implemented in a piece of code or in a program so that we fulfill a desired task