Another Interview Question - Dojo v script.aculo.us

**Jubber** · 19 January 2011, 15:55

Eurgh - I'm glad I don't have to do your interviews, they sound tough.

Mine are much easier, I usually get asked questions like this....

"And how is the Worshipful Master these days ....."

**pmeswani** · 19 January 2011, 15:55

Originally posted by OwlHoot View Post

If your CV claims something along the lines of "web code monkey (experienced)", "Javascript (guru)", some pain-in-the-ass interviewer might ask you to compare script.aculo.us with Dojo.

I last used script.aculo.us back in 2006, and it seemed pretty impressive at the time, and I've been using Dojo intensively at current clientco. Their features seem to pretty much overlap, although to be honest I don't recall script.aculo.us in enough detail to make an informed comparison (hence the main reason for posting).

So how would you, as a fellow web code monkey, reply? Any decent web articles contrasting these two javascript APIs? I'm sure a quick search would regurgitate something, but I'm interested in personal opinions of every day users.

Also, are there any other well-known Javascript APIs that cover the same kind of ground, namely drag-and-drop, animation, fancy forms, etc

No different to how I would answer any other question. I would say "It has been a while since I used xyz. But if I were to compare the 2 applications based on my experience, these are what the applications do and here is where it overlaps. Both good at what they do, and would use them according to the requirements at hand".

Not sure if that answers your question.... but there you go.

**OwlHoot** · 19 January 2011, 16:33

Originally posted by pmeswani View Post

Not sure if that answers your question.... but there you go.

Thanks, but I'm only really interested in the comparison itself. The "interview question" angle was just dressing it up a bit.

**eek** · 19 January 2011, 16:50

Originally posted by OwlHoot View Post

Thanks, but I'm only really interested in the comparison itself. The "interview question" angle was just dressing it up a bit.

didn't jquery win the battle to be the standard javascript framework? Granted script.aculo.us is built into Ruby but most of the contracts i see that mention a framework do seem to centre around jquery.

Mind you I may be biased towards .net rather than php or ruby and that could be impacting what I am seeing.

**NickFitz** · 19 January 2011, 18:57

I've never used s.a.u or Dojo, though I know people who speak highly of both.

As fas as other libraries go, jQuery is without any doubt the single most widely used one. YUI is also very good though a bit more verbose than jQuery.

I also like the BBC's Glow, but I don't think it gets much use outside the Beeb.

**d000hg** · 19 January 2011, 19:01

Originally posted by eek View Post

didn't jquery win the battle to be the standard javascript framework? Granted script.aculo.us is built into Ruby but most of the contracts i see that mention a framework do seem to centre around jquery.

Mind you I may be biased towards .net rather than php or ruby and that could be impacting what I am seeing.

It hasn't won, per se, but it's certainly the closest we have to a standard.

**lightng** · 19 January 2011, 19:36

JQUERY does most of what I need to do. I don't bother with any other js frameworks now.

**Durbs** · 19 January 2011, 19:52

Originally posted by lightng View Post

JQUERY does most of what I need to do. I don't bother with any other js frameworks now.

Especially now its shipped with Visual Studio and is a supported .NET library, it'd be my choice as well.

As for the original Q, I've used both of those but couldn't answer that question.

**dang65** · 19 January 2011, 23:57

Originally posted by NickFitz View Post

As fas as other libraries go, jQuery is without any doubt the single most widely used one. YUI is also very good though a bit more verbose than jQuery.

MooTools should also get a mention. Last two contracts I worked on had that as the in house standard framework. I haven't had time (or desire) to get into it in any depth, but it seems to apply a kind of class structure onto JavaScript, which is popular with people coming from a more programming-based background, rather than a classic front-end developer background. In reality, I find that what these JavaScript libraries mainly do is to demonstrate how magnificently flexible JavaScript is. I won't be surprised if someone comes up with an API soon where you just type in what you want it to do...

Code:

performJavaScriptVoodoo("Uh, can you move the cat picture down 200 pixels?  Thanks.")

Another Interview Question - Dojo v script.aculo.us