I should preface this weeks blog by explaining that I am working along with classmates to to create a QR code reader / generator. Over the past week I have looked at several examples of how to implement these ideas into a webpage/app. All of them require jQuery. I have never implemented it but now apparently I need to understand it. jQuery simplifies using JavaScript on webpages. It hosts libraries much like formal programming languages such as Java. Just like Java uses the math library to generate a random number, jQuery can be used in just the same way. This speeds up programming by being able to reference a single document for any number of needed commands rather than having to rewrite code everytime every timea page is created that needs it. It also helps standardize code writing making it easier to read others code, much like standardizing any real language.

JQuery can be used in a few different ways. It can be created using the same concept as linking CSS. One can also use jQuery's official webpage file, called a CDN, and link it to their website. W3Schools gave another interesting idea. Google's jQuery can be linked. This is beneficial for a main reason. Whenever a jQuery file used, it must be downloaded by the client to be referenced. If a CDN, Content Delivery Network) is being used this could take a particularly long time since the files tend to be larger. Using Google's CDN would be beneficial since most people would already have it downloaded since most people use google.com. If the CDN is already cached by the client then there is no delay in downloading and can be referenced immediately. Conveniently for me, Google's CDN has JavaScript that will help create and read QR codes already. My next step is to implement this, but thats next weeks problem!