bling.js

Because you want the $ of jQuery without the jQuery.

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You may be interested in bling.js if you get tired of the Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.foo')).forEach(… rodeo. It does this:

// forEach over the qSA result, directly.
document.querySelectorAll('input').forEach(el => /* ... */);

// on() rather than addEventListener()
document.body.on('dblclick', evt => /* ... */);

// classic jQuery + on()
$$('p').on('click', el => /* ... */);

It doesn’t do anything else. This is not a jQuery equivalent.

Notes:

• on() works on elements, document, window, and results from querySelector & querySelectorAll.
• $ is qSA so if you’re grabbing a single element you’ll have to [0] it.
  • In Nov 2024 I made a breaking change (ya know, 10yrs later) where $$ is qSA and $ is qS. This matches how these symbols are defined within DevTools Console.
• Bling plays well with authoring ES6 (and beyond!)
• Resig explored this stuff a while ago: github.com/jeresig/nodelist
• Bling works everywhere.

Nerdy implementation notes:

• The NodeList prototype usually inherits from Object, so we move it to Array.
• I’m curious how ES6/7 would let a NodeList be iterable and inherit from EventTarget. 2024 Paul here: whelp, they added iterable to NodeList but not EventTarget. seems good.
• Setting Node.prototype.on = EventTarget.prototype.addEventListener is awesome. It works in Chrome/FF but not yet in IE/Safari.
• I haven’t set up any off() or trigger() to map to dispatchEvent & removeEventListener. I’m OK with that.
  • See comments for alternatives where folks have more fleshed out editions of this.

Typescript declaration

(Added 2024..)

declare global {
  interface Node {
    on(name: string, fn: EventListenerOrEventListenerObject): void;
  }

  interface Window {
    on(name: string, fn: EventListenerOrEventListenerObject): void;
    $(selector: string): Element | null;
    $$(selector: string): NodeListOf<Element>;
  }

  interface NodeList extends Array<Node> {
    on(name: string, fn: EventListenerOrEventListenerObject): void;
  }
}