title: jQuery :first vs. .first()
body: <p>The <code>.first()</code> method was added in jQuery 1.4.</p>
  <p>The <code>:first</code> selector has been around since 1.0.</p>
  <p>From the docs:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p><a href="http://api.jquery.com/first-selector/" rel="noreferrer"><strong><code>:first</code></strong></a></p>
  <p>The <code>:first</code> pseudo-class is equivalent to <code>:eq(0)</code>. It could also be written as <code>:lt(1)</code>. While this matches only a single element, <code>:first-child</code> can match more than one: One for each parent.</p>
  <p><a href="http://api.jquery.com/first/" rel="noreferrer"><strong><code>.first()</code></strong></a></p>
  <p>Given a jQuery object that represents a set of DOM elements, the <code>.first()</code> method constructs a new jQuery object from the first matching element.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <hr />
  <p>It seems that <code>.first()</code> is a filter that returns another jQuery object, while <code>:first</code> is just a selector.</p>
  <p>But, they can both be used to accomplish the same thing.</p>
  <p>So, when should one be used instead of the other? Performance? Please provide examples.</p>