jQuery is fast becoming a must-have skill for front-end developers. The purpose of this book is to provide an overview of the jQuery JavaScript library; when you're done with the book, you should be able to complete basic tasks using jQuery, and have a solid basis from which to continue your learning. This book was designed as material to be used in a classroom setting, but you may find it useful for individual study. This is a hands-on class. We will spend a bit of time covering a concept, and then you’ll have the chance to work on an exercise related to the concept. Some of the exercises may seem trivial; others may be downright daunting. In either case, there is no grade; the goal is simply to get you comfortable working your way through problems you’ll commonly be called upon to solve using jQuery. Example solutions to all of the exercises are included in the sample code. jQuery is built on top of JavaScript, a rich and expressive language in its own right. This section covers the basic concepts of JavaScript, as well as some frequent pitfalls for people who have not used JavaScript before. While it will be of particular value to people with no programming experience, even people who have used other programming languages may benefit from learning about some of the peculiarities of JavaScript. If you’re interested in learning more about the JavaScript language, I highly recommend JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford.