Animation fade | jQuery vs pure js | setInterval vs. setTimeout
<p>I have this tested function below that works fine for fading an element in or out.</p>

<p>What do I gain by using JQuery?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<pre><code>Effects.prototype.fade = function( direction, max_time,  element ) 
{
    var elapsed = 0;
    function next() {
        elapsed += 10;
        if (direction === 'up')
        {
            element.style.opacity = elapsed / max_time;
        }
        else if (direction === 'down')
        {
            element.style.opacity = (max_time - elapsed) / max_time;
        }
        if (elapsed &lt;= max_time) {
            setTimeout(next, 10);
        }
    }
    next();
};
</code></pre>

<p>Running a search on fadeIn() on the core jquery library I get one hit here:</p>

<pre><code>jQuery.each({
    slideDown: genFx( "show", 1 ),
    slideUp: genFx( "hide", 1 ),
    slideToggle: genFx( "toggle", 1 ),
    fadeIn: { opacity: "show" },
    fadeOut: { opacity: "hide" },
    fadeToggle: { opacity: "toggle" }
}, function( name, props ) {
    jQuery.fn[ name ] = function( speed, easing, callback ) {
        return this.animate( props, speed, easing, callback );
    };
});
</code></pre>

<p>Using the <a href="http://james.padolsey.com/jquery/#v=1.6.2&amp;fn=animate" rel="nofollow">JQuery Source Viewer</a></p>

<pre><code>function (prop, speed, easing, callback) {
    var optall = jQuery.speed(speed, easing, callback);
    if (jQuery.isEmptyObject(prop)) {
        return this.each(optall.complete, [false]);
    }
    prop = jQuery.extend({},
    prop);
    return this[optall.queue === false ? "each" : "queue"](function () {
        if (optall.queue === false) {
            jQuery._mark(this);
        }
        var opt = jQuery.extend({},
        optall),
            isElement = this.nodeType === 1,
            hidden = isElement &amp;&amp; jQuery(this).is(":hidden"),
            name, val, p, display, e, parts, start, end, unit;
        opt.animatedProperties = {};
        for (p in prop) {
            name = jQuery.camelCase(p);
            if (p !== name) {
                prop[name] = prop[p];
                delete prop[p];
            }
            val = prop[name];
            if (jQuery.isArray(val)) {
                opt.animatedProperties[name] = val[1];
                val = prop[name] = val[0];
            } else {
                opt.animatedProperties[name] = opt.specialEasing &amp;&amp; opt.specialEasing[name] || opt.easing || "swing";
            }
            if (val === "hide" &amp;&amp; hidden || val === "show" &amp;&amp; !hidden) {
                return opt.complete.call(this);
            }
            if (isElement &amp;&amp; (name === "height" || name === "width")) {
                opt.overflow = [this.style.overflow, this.style.overflowX, this.style.overflowY];
                if (jQuery.css(this, "display") === "inline" &amp;&amp; jQuery.css(this, "float") === "none") {
                    if (!jQuery.support.inlineBlockNeedsLayout) {
                        this.style.display = "inline-block";
                    } else {
                        display = defaultDisplay(this.nodeName);
                        if (display === "inline") {
                            this.style.display = "inline-block";
                        } else {
                            this.style.display = "inline";
                            this.style.zoom = 1;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        if (opt.overflow != null) {
            this.style.overflow = "hidden";
        }
        for (p in prop) {
            e = new jQuery.fx(this, opt, p);
            val = prop[p];
            if (rfxtypes.test(val)) {
                e[val === "toggle" ? hidden ? "show" : "hide" : val]();
            } else {
                parts = rfxnum.exec(val);
                start = e.cur();
                if (parts) {
                    end = parseFloat(parts[2]);
                    unit = parts[3] || (jQuery.cssNumber[p] ? "" : "px");
                    if (unit !== "px") {
                        jQuery.style(this, p, (end || 1) + unit);
                        start = (end || 1) / e.cur() * start;
                        jQuery.style(this, p, start + unit);
                    }
                    if (parts[1]) {
                        end = (parts[1] === "-=" ? -1 : 1) * end + start;
                    }
                    e.custom(start, end, unit);
                } else {
                    e.custom(start, val, "");
                }
            }
        }
        return true;
    });
}
</code></pre>
