DOM – What is the DOM?

An Introduction to the DOM

DOM stands for Document Object Model and refers to an interchange to web pages.

Programmers apply DOM to generate documents and establish their structure by adding or deleting content from the said document. The DOM interacts with different kinds of documents such as the XML and HTML documents.

Any element of substance or data found in HTML and XML documents can be approached, deleted or altered in any manner through the Document Object Model.

The DOM provides the cerebral model for the programming interchange, which can be cultivated in any way the implementation mechanism deems fit. DOM does not mandate over the manner in which the documents shall be implemented.

However, the DOM, as an object model, has influence over how the document is in its entirety and the traits of the objects composing the said documents.

JavaScript vs. the DOM

JavaScript refers to the prototype based and object-oriented computer diction program. It is used to make interactive impacts within the computer programming system due to its curly bracket syntax features among others. It serves as an important part of web applications. JavaScript picks up elements that are a DOM node as a language that the browser reads and assesses.

The DOM in this sense operates as the main body since it contains all the documents structured in a particular manner while the JavaScript is simply a syntax. JavaScript can operate independently outside the spectrum of the browser without any DOM Application Programming Interface (API)

What HTML DOM is

Document Object Model as an application programming interface verifies HTML documents. There is however a difference between the HTML and the DOM.

An HTML is what gets back from the server and thereafter gets interpreted while DOM is what the browser assembles or constructs with, and can be influenced by the JavaScript.

The difference between the two explains why one may find data in the HTML that may not be found in the server. That is because the JavaScript as a syntax may sieve out some data or elements that the HTML may still maintain.

What jQuery DOM is

jQuery refers to a JavaScript tool that codifies volumes of elements into simpler means that one can apply with a singular string of code.

jQuery is what enables the simpler maneuvering of JavaScript. jQuery is popular and instrumental in most browsers due to its extendable traits. jQuery contains a number of attributes including:

  • HyperText Markup Language/ Document Object Model (HTML/DOM) manipulation,
  • Cascading Styling Sheets (CSS) manipulation,
  • HTML event methods,
  • Effects and animations,
  • Asynchronous JavaScriptt and XML (AJAX)

which is not a single technology but a collection of technologies that makes a cluster of web development operating procedures.

One of the major advantages of using jQuery as earlier stated is that it is easier to use as compared to other JavaScript libraries, as it needs less coding to achieve the same outcome as one would achieve through other JavaScript libraries.

Another merit following the application of jQuery is that it has an extensive selection of plugins that are very fundamental to web developers for purposes of creating special features.