Develop Reference

JavaScript vs jQuery Selector

I was wondering what the difference between jQuery selectors $("#fake-div) and JavaScript selectors getElementById("fake-div"). First, are these even called JavaScript selectors?. I know jQuery returns the jQuery object whereas JavaScript selectors returns the DOM element; however, given these two blocks of code:
jQuery Selector
var post = $("#postid");
var reply_list = post.find(".replies_ul");
var current_reply = document.createElement("li");
current_reply.setAttribute("class", "reply_li");
reply_list.insertBefore(current_reply, reply_list.firstChild);
JS Selector
var content_list = document.getElementById("content_ul");
var current_post = document.createElement("li");
current_post.setAttribute("class","content_li");
content_list.insertBefore(current_post, content_list.firstChild);
The jQuery Selector ends up removing the list from the DOM when the last line of code is called, and the JavaScript selector successfully inserts the list item at the top of the list. I'm looking for an explanation as to what is going on.

The jQuery insertBefore in your code is invalid, it takes two arguments whereas the jQuery accepts only one:
.insertBefore( target )
Description: Insert every element in the set of matched elements before the target.
And the normal one:
Node.insertBefore
Description: Inserts the specified node before a reference element as a child of the current node.
parentElement.insertBefore(newElement, referenceElement)

The difference is not on the selector but on the method / function that you are calling.
You are using the jQuery insertBefore function and comparing it with the javascript insertBefore function.
In jQuery the insertBefore function has only one parameter and therefore you are using it wrong.
If you want to make use of the Javascript function insertBefore instead of the jQuery one, then you have to convert your jQuery object reply_list to a Javascript one.
You can do this by using .get(0) or [0] like so:
reply_list[0].insertBefore(current_post, content_list.firstChild);
//or like this
reply_list.get(0).insertBefore(current_post, content_list.firstChild);

In your first block of code, the reply_list is a jQuery object; meaning it doesn't actually have a .firstChild property.
Change it to this:
reply_list.get(0).insertBefore(current_reply, reply_list.get(0).firstChild);
Please note the differences between jQuery's insertBefore and JavaScript's insertBefore

Confused on usage of JQuery Selector reference

Ok, so as i am working on a development project, i started doing my normal object reference acquisition var obj = $(".selector"); but then noticed that when i tried to operate on this reference it was not the root object.
Currently have JQuery 2.1 & JQuery UI 1.10.4 in the link folder.
Any explanation as to why i have use the Index 0 to get a reference to the html control?

The jQuery selector returns a jQuery QuerySet object, which includes the set of results matching the query. It also allows you to call jQuery functions on the result, such as .text(), .addClass(), etc., instead of using the JavaScript DOM API.
As for why elements are accessible through indexing (vs, say, a property called domElement or something): remember that jQuery selector queries can return multiple elements. Imagine, for example, if you had multiple elements with the class "selector". Then wnd[0] will return the first matching DOM element, and wnd[1] will return the second matching DOM element.

why does $('el')[0].className work but not $('el').className?

I noticed that className property doesn't work inside jQuery without the index, why is that?
Also, are there other common JS properties / methods that don't work as expected inside jQuery?
HTML:
<div class="par">test</div>
JQuery:
$(function () {
var el = $('.par');
el.className += ' new class'; // doesn't work
el[0].className += ' new class'; // works
});

var el = $('.par'); returns a jQuery object. className is a property on Element and not on jQuery object.
The jQuery object has an array like definition so el[0] returns the underlying Element which has className property.
As far as I know, jQuery doesn't like developer updating its property directly. It simply exposes variety of utility functions for easy developement.
Quoting on a nice comment from David Thomas below,
jQuery methods can only be used on jQuery objects; native DOM properties/methods can only be used on native DOM nodes
Note: var el = $('.par'); returns a collection of Element and el[0] returns the first element in that list.
You could use .addClass to add a class to the element.
To the first element,
el.eq(0).addClass('new_class');
To all elements,
el.addClass('new_class');
More Reading:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/element
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/DOM/element.className

var el = $('.par');
gives you a jQuery object, which may contain one or more DOM elements.
var el = $('.par')[0];
returns the first DOM object in the selection of that jQuery object. className is a property on a DOM element, not on a jQuery object
$('.par').attr('class');
would be the jQuery way to get the className of the first element.
If you just want to add a particular class to elements matching another class, you can use
$('.par').addClass('testclass');
This will add the test class to all elements with the par class, while your method will only add it to the first element on the page.
Other properties
Also, are there other common JS properties / methods that don't work as expected inside jQuery?
Most dom properties will not work directly on a jQuery object. You can use [0] to get the raw dom element for the first matched element for those. However most of them also have straightforward equivalents in jQuery. The advantage of using the jQuery versions is that they're often simpler, and work consistently across browsers. Native dom properties tend to be faster to access though.

className is part of the api for a DOM element.
var el = $('.par'); will return a jQuery object with an array of elements.
Using el[0] accesses the first element which has access to the api.
jQuery provides an easy method for adding classes to an element or group of elements matched by a selector called addClass. You could use this:
var el = $('.par');
el.addClass('new class');
Also note that it is usually best practice to name variables which contain a jQuery object with $ like this:
var $el = $('.par');

The jQuery DOM object is actually a list of matching elements. Since you're setting a variable on a list of DOM elements, jQuery can't apply them to the entire list. el[0] is the first matched element. (If you have more than one element, using el[0] will only set the first matched element, and if there aren't any matches, el[0] will raise a ValueError.) You should probably use jQuery's builtin class manipulation functions:
el.addClass("new class");
to remove the classes:
el.removeClass("new class");
and to toggle them:
el.toggleClass("new class");

This might not be directly related to the question, but if you're working with jQuery, then you should also be using jQuery's easy to use methods to modify the classname's of all DOM elements within a jQuery object.
http://api.jquery.com/addClass/
http://api.jquery.com/toggleClass/
http://api.jquery.com/removeClass/

$(function () {
var cname = $('.par').attr('class'); // get class attribute
if (!$('.par').hasClass('some-new-class')) {
$('.par').addClass('some-new-class');
}
});

Can JQuery and Javascript be mixed together?

I am wondering if I could use query and javascript together so I could select an element by class with the javascript and then use javascript to work on that element. Sorry if that didn't make sense. Here is an example:
$('.nav_flag').src = "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif";
Would that work, if not how do I get an element by class using regular javascript. Thanks!
EDIT:I know JQUERY is JavaScript but I was wondering if I could mix jquery selectors and javascript 'controller'-for a loss of a better word

To answer your question as asked, there are several ways to take a jQuery object, i.e., what is returned by $('some selector'), and get a reference to the underlying DOM element(s).
You can access the individual DOM elements like array elements:
// update the src of the first matching element:
$(".nav_flag")[0].src = "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif";
// if you're going to access more than one you should cache the jQuery object in
// a variable, not keep selecting the same thing via the $() function:
var navFlgEls = $(".nav_flag");
for (var i = 0; i < navFlgEls.length; i++) { ... }
But you wouldn't manually loop through the elements when you can use jQuery's .each() method, noting that within the callback function you provide this will be set to the current DOM element:
$(".nav_flag").each(function() {
this.src = "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif";
});
However, jQuery provides a way to set attributes with one line of code:
$(".nav_flag").attr("src", "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif");
To answer the second part of your question, doing the same thing without jQuery, you can use .getElementsByClassname() or .querySelectorAll() if you don't care about supporting older browsers.

jQuery IS Javascript. You can mix and match them together. But you better know what you're doing.
In this case, you probably want to use .attr function to set value of attribute.

Use .attr() in jQuery, rather than mix the two here.
$('.nav_flag').attr('src', "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif");
In many instances, it is fine to mix jQuery with plain JavaScript, but if you have already included the jQuery library, you might as well make use of it. Unless, that is, you have an operation which in jQuery would be more computationally expensive than the same operation in plain JavaScript.

You can do it with jQuery too:
$('.nav_flag').attr("src", "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif");

keep in mind that jQuery is simply a library built upon javascript.
for any jQuery object, selecting its elements by subscription will return the corresponding dom element.
e.g.
$('#foo')[0] // is equivalent to document.getElementById('foo');

You need to add an index to the jQuery object to get the native Javascript object. Change:
$('.nav_flag').src = "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif";
To:
$('.nav_flag')[0].src = "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif";
To get elements by class name in Javascript you can use:
document.getElementsByClassName( 'nav_flag' )[0].src = "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif";

To answer your question, you could use .toArray() to convert the jQuery object into an array of standard DOM elements. Then either get the first element or loop through the array to set all the elements with the class.
However, you could do this easier with pure jquery with attr or prop depending on the version:
$('.nav_flag').attr("src", "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif");
Or use pure javascript:
if (navFlagElements = document.getElementsByClassName("nav_flag") && navFlagElements.length > 0) {
navFlagElements[0].src = "images/flags/"+userCountryLower+".gif"
}

jQuery object and DOM element

I would like to understand relationship between jQuery object and DOM element..
When jQuery returns an element it shows up as [object Object] in an alert.
When getElementByID returns an element it shows up as [object HTMLDivElement]. What does that mean exactly? I mean are both of them objects with a difference ?
Also what methods can operate on jQuery object vs DOM element? Can a single jQuery object represent multiple DOM elements ?

I would like to understand relationship between jQuery object and DOM element
A jQuery object is an array-like object that contains DOM element(s). A jQuery object can contain multiple DOM elements depending on the selector you use.
Also what methods can operate on jQuery object vs DOM element? Can a single jQuery object represent multiple DOM elements ?
jQuery functions (a full list is on the website) operate on jQuery objects and not on DOM elements. You can access the DOM elements inside a jQuery function using .get() or accessing the element at the desired index directly:
$("selector")[0] // Accesses the first DOM element in this jQuery object
$("selector").get(0) // Equivalent to the code above
$("selector").get() // Retrieve a true array of DOM elements matched by this selector
In other words, the following should get you the same result:
<div id="foo"></div>
alert($("#foo")[0]);
alert($("#foo").get(0));
alert(document.getElementById("foo"));
For more information on the jQuery object, see the documentation. Also check out the documentation for .get()

When you use jQuery to obtain an DOM element, the jQuery object returns contains a reference to the element. When you use a native function like getElementById, you get the reference to the element directly, not contained within a jQuery object.
A jQuery object is an array-like object that can contain multiple DOM elements:
var jQueryCollection = $("div"); //Contains all div elements in DOM
The above line could be performed without jQuery:
var normalCollection = document.getElementsByTagName("div");
In fact, that's exactly what jQuery will do internally when you pass in a simple selector like div. You can access the actual elements within a jQuery collection using the get method:
var div1 = jQueryCollection.get(0); //Gets the first element in the collection
When you have an element, or set of elements, inside a jQuery object, you can use any of the methods available in the jQuery API, whereas when you have the raw element you can only use native JavaScript methods.

I just barely started playing with jQuery this last month, and I had a similar question running around in my mind. All the answers you have received so far are valid and on the dot, but a very precise answer may be this:
Let's say you are in a function, and to refer to the calling element, you can either use this, or $(this); but what is the difference? Turns out, when you use $(this), you are wrapping this inside a jQuery object. The benefit is that once an object is a jQuery object, you can use all the jQuery functions on it.
It's pretty powerful, since you can even wrap a string representation of elements, var s = '<div>hello <a href='#'>world</a></div><span>!</span>', inside a jQuery object just by literally wrapping it in $(): $(s). Now you can manipulate all those elements with jQuery.

Most jQuery member Functions do not have a return value but rather return the current jQuery Object or another jQuery Object.
So,
console.log("(!!) jquery >> " + $("#id") ) ;
will return [object Object], i.e. a jQuery Object which maintains the collection which is the result of evaluating the selector String ("#id") against the Document,
while ,
console.log("(!!) getElementById >> " + document.getElementById("id") ) ;
will return [object HTMLDivElement] (or in fact [object Object] in IE) because/if the return value is a div Element.
Also what methods can operate on jQuery object vs DOM element? (1) Can a single jQuery object represent multiple DOM elements ? (2)
(1) There is a host of member Functions in jQuery that pertain to DOM Objects. The best thing to do imo is search the jQuery API documentation for a relevant Function once you have a specific task (such as selecting Nodes or manipulating them).
jQuery documentation
(2) Yes, a single jQuery Object may maintain a list of multiple DOM Elements. There are multiple Functions (such as jQuery.find or jQuery.each) that build upon this automatic caching behaviour.

That's just your browser being clever. They're both objects but DOMElements are special objects. jQuery just wraps DOMElements in a Javascript object.
If you want to get more debug info I recommend you look at debugging tools like Firebug for Firefox and Chrome's built-in inspector (very similar to Firebug).

Besides what has been mentioned, I'd like to add something about why jQuery object is imported according to description from jquery-object
Compatibility
The implementation of element methods varies across browser vendors and versions.
As an example, set innerHTML of element may not work in most versions of Internet Explorer.
You can set innerHTML in jQuery way and jQuery will help you hide the differences of browser.
// Setting the inner HTML with jQuery.
var target = document.getElementById( "target" );
$( target ).html( "<td>Hello <b>World</b>!</td>" );
Convenience
jQuery provides a list of methods bound to jQuery object to smooth developer's experience, please check some of them under http://api.jquery.com/. The website also provides a common DOM manipulation, let's see how to insert an element stored in newElement after the target element in both way.
The DOM way,
// Inserting a new element after another with the native DOM API.
var target = document.getElementById( "target" );
var newElement = document.createElement( "div" );
target.parentNode.insertBefore( newElement, target.nextSibling );
The jQuery way,
// Inserting a new element after another with jQuery.
var target = document.getElementById( "target" );
var newElement = document.createElement( "div" );
$( target ).after( newElement );
Hope this is a supplement.