is using the $() shortcut in jQuery bad practice?
<p>I was recently listening to a podcast which made a comment on using <code>$()</code> vs using <code>jQuery()</code>. It was stated that every time <code>$()</code> was used a new object would be created and when <code>jQuery()</code> was used this was not the case. I google'd around but couldn't find anything on this specific topic.</p>

<p>I realize this is not a typical example, but the following is the reason I am interested in the answer to this question.</p>

<p>I have a page that the user will keep loaded in a browser for a whole day (24 hours, or possibly longer) and updates are done to the DOM every ~5 seconds as the result of an AJAX call via jQuery (the AJAX call portion is irrelevant to updating the DOM - the update to the DOM is done using a string of HTML and a call on a jQuery object to <code>.empty()</code> and then <code>.html()</code>).</p>

<p>Since hearing this, I subsequently switched all of the <code>$()</code> calls to <code>jQuery()</code> calls, but I would like to know:<br>
Is using <code>$()</code> vs using <code>jQuery()</code> a bad practice? Is there a negligible difference between the two? Or is it actually noticeable on larger projects?</p>
