Anyone interested in a comparison of frameworks, check out the above link.

I have the book and I love it. I know some basic JavaScript through practice and reading, so I wanted to dive right into MooTools and start building. :)

Btw, I’ve read an introductory book on javascript and worked with jquery for a few months, and the thing that I’m not sure about is whether I should pick up a definite guide to javascript type of book before I dwelve into MooTools, or just start learning MooTools and learn the advanced concepts of javascript along the way. Can any of you help me with this?

@Daniel Shanahan: I’d like to take a stab at your question. First, why there isn’t a comprehensive comparison of all frameworks: your hunch is correct, it would be very long and it would have to be constantly maintained. Something like this would be better off in a collaborative format (such as a wiki) because it would be very difficult for a single person to expertly talk about all the other JS frameworks and libraries out there.

To me, there are three main categories of JS libraries for web development: (1) a library of useful web development methods and functions (jQuery), (2) a framework that extends JavaScript to add missing, useful functions and methods (MooTools, Prototype), and (3) a full JS framework that includes user interface elements (YUI, UIZE).

These JS libraries would fall–again, according to me–into a broader category of “Web development frameworks” because they serve not to perform a single function, but rather, to give developers a set of tools for creating sites and applications that are JavaScript-enabled in a quicker way than starting from scratch.

Staples in these web development libraries would be Ajax, DOM selection, DOM manipulation, and cross-browser support functions and methods, at the very least. Often, they’ll come with animation/transition effects and utility functions and methods that help you do common stuff such as looping through a collection of DOM elements in an array and performing stuff on them.

The biggest factor of your choice is either circumstance (boss is telling you to use it) or personal preference/style. If it is the latter, try a few and see which one you like the best. I find that classical programmers and web developers (server-side web app builders) find MooTools more to their tastes because it’s very OO. jQuery (and this is an opinion from me based on experience in working with many developers – it is not a fact) is more appealing to beginning front-end developers (HTML/CSS/JavScript) and web designers because the syntax is very terse and intuitive.

Intuitiveness is dependent on your background though: OOP and classical programmers would find MooTools more intuitive (if you follow MooTools best practices of utilizing Class for reusing functions and methods). There are syntax inconsistencies that I find in jQuery that always trips me up, that a beginner would probably not have trouble with because that was what they were trained in.

If you know JavaScript already, you already know MooTools. If you want to learn JavaScript, using MooTools would teach you JavaScript naturally. Some libraries twist and bend JavaScript for the sake of ease of use and shorter syntax (for a lower learning curve targeted at novice developers that need to learn real quick).

Also, in MooTools, it’s much easier, shorter, and quicker (for me) to build flexible things like slideshows and tabbed interfaces because of Class.

So if you build a lot of sites for many different clients, you can write just one MooTools class for an image gallery that you can customize through instantiation in your different sites. I’m not saying this is particularly unique in MooTools, but it is one of the frameworks that excels–and even integrates it in its best practices–in this sort of thing.

You see why David hasn’t blogged about this? Look at my comment, it’s so long, and I barely scratched the surface.

Thanks!

Hope you get the book and let me know what you think when you get a bit of a chance to read it!

Just a point about the MooTools versus other frameworks discussion: I think that’s a great idea. I am familiar with jQuery probably as fluently as MooTools, and Aaron’s comparison of both frameworks pretty much sums up the things I would’ve mentioned if I were to include a discussion on various frameworks. However, for the book, I wanted to focus on MooTools and what’s good about MooTools, because I wouldn’t be able to write this section without an obvious bias inside a book about MooTools.

Your blog not being included in the Resources section, indeed, is a clear oversight on my part! Massive FAIL on my part there. :)