I find myself increasingly using jQuery as my JavaScript framework of choice.

It’s by-line of “write less, do more” really seems apt.

But sometimes, by writing just that little bit extra, you can do even more.

For example, I often try to do the following:

• Make most jQuery code into reusable plugins
• Use the jQuery plugin development pattern for added flexibility
• Use QUnit to unit test JavaScript
• Combine the two approaches to drive out a richer API for the plugin

By unit testing with QUnit, I find I often need to trigger additional events or add additional code from within the plugin so the test can be meaningful.

But this extra code isn’t only useful for testing, it becomes a useful part of the plugin’s API, improving its functionality and flexibility without sacrificing maintainability and readability of the code.

I’ll try to demonstrate that in this post. Continue reading →