Question

Google isn’t helping me figure this one out. Is there any reason not to do the following:

var test = $('something');
$(test).stuff();

Instead of the doing it this way:

var test = $('something');
test.stuff();

Basically I find the code much easier to read when it’s in the jQuery selector format, even though it doesn’t need to be.

Both methods appear to work the same.

Thanks!

Answer 1

The first one can be significantly slower, depending on the size of the object. If you only use it a couple times it won’t make that much a difference, but if you use it a lot maybe you could use this popular naming scheme:

If a variable contains a jQuery object prepend the variable name with $. Name everything else normally, and don’t name any variables that do not contain jQuery objects with a $. So you would write:

var $test = $('something');
$test.stuff();

Which makes it clear that test is a jQuery object if you’ve been following the same naming convention.