My guess is that jQuery targeted and solved a problem that was bigger for a broader base of people doing JavaScript development: the DOM API (and some other browser APIs) was both pretty awkward and inconsistent.
Prototype.js seemed to be targeting the problem of providing a familiar class system, standardizing some functional features, and some utility functions. It was something else, and I loved experimenting with it and reading the source, but ultimately, I think fewer people were finding this to be their pain point with the language or that using it made them significantly more productive.
Of course, considering the fact that they seem to solve different problems, it may be an interesting question why they were fighting for mindshare in the same space.
Comments
My guess is that jQuery targeted and solved a problem that was bigger for a broader base of people doing JavaScript development: the DOM API (and some other browser APIs) was both pretty awkward and inconsistent.
Prototype.js seemed to be targeting the problem of providing a familiar class system, standardizing some functional features, and some utility functions. It was something else, and I loved experimenting with it and reading the source, but ultimately, I think fewer people were finding this to be their pain point with the language or that using it made them significantly more productive.
Of course, considering the fact that they seem to solve different problems, it may be an interesting question why they were fighting for mindshare in the same space.