How to replace first <td> column of a table?
<p>I have the following table and would like to replace the string text of each 1st col  with a link .  So, the "Whatever" and "Whatever2" contents would be replaced with an according link .html contents.</p>

<p>How can I do this using jquery?</p>

<pre><code>&lt;table&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
       &lt;th&gt;Name&lt;/th&gt;
       &lt;th&gt;Start&lt;/th&gt;
       &lt;th&gt;End&lt;/th&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
       &lt;td&gt;Whatever&lt;/td&gt;
       &lt;td&gt;3/14/2012&lt;/td&gt;
       &lt;td&gt;3/31/2012&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
       &lt;td&gt;Whatever2&lt;/td&gt;
       &lt;td&gt;3/15/2012&lt;/td&gt;
       &lt;td&gt;3/30/2012&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
</code></pre>
