Comment Re:I'm going to assume that was hipster irony. (Score 2) 91
Smart programmers don't reinvent the wheel just because they can.
Then why are you using jQuery?
For the bulk of real-world jQuery use, you can use getElementById, querySelector, and querySelectorAll. Take a look around the web. It's disturbing.
Moving on, for stuff like animations, smart programmers use lightweight special purpose libraries rather than slow, bulky, buggy general purpose library like jQuery. Even better: When they can, they use CSS instead! Instead of jQuery + some heavy-weight plugin for a dropdown menu, you could do the same thing very quickly with some simple CSS. The result will be faster, lighter, and easier to maintain. (If you don't understand CSS, there are tons of generators online.)
What about Ajax? Again, vanilla JavaSript is the clear winner. A few lines of simple and easy-to-maintain code is all it takes. As a bonus, your code will be infinitely more readable, and won't break when jQuery makes it's regular set of breaking changes.
Aside from the obvious performance benefits you get from dropping jQuery, you also get MUCH more readable code. Nothing is worse than "optimized" jQuery as far as readability is concerned. Under the unlikely assumption that you actually save time during initial development, you'll easily lose it all maintenance.
What about supporing old browsers? Well, jQuery is dropping support for IE6, 7, and 8. Have fun with that.