$.each() vs for() loop - and performance
<p>These are mainly just some things I've been wondering, maybe someone can give me a little more insight on them, i'll share what i've noticed so far as well!</p>

<p>First thing i've been wondering... is there any difference good or reason to use:</p>

<p><code>$('element').each(function (i, el) { });</code> -- versus -- <code>$.each($('element'), function (i, el) { });</code> </p>

<p>Looking at the jQuery docs I can't see any rhyme or reason for one or the other (maybe you know an instance or additional things one can do over the other.</p>

<p><strong>But more importantly I'm concerned with <em>speed</em> here</strong></p>

<pre><code>// As opposed to $.each() looping through a jQuery object
// -- 8x faster 
for (var i = 0, $('.whatever').length; i &lt; len; i++) {
    $('.whatever')[i] // do stuff
}
</code></pre>

<p>If you check out this <strong><a href="http://jsfiddle.net/3ySng/1/" rel="nofollow">jsFiddle DEMO here</a></strong>, you'll see the difference in speed is basically equivalent with either of them, but more importantly I feel like I should <em>always</em> be using <code>for()</code> loops...</p>

<p>I was just unit testing (looping through each of 5 different scenario functions, 50,000 times), simply looping through a bunch of list items, and setting a <code>data-newAttr</code>, nothing special.</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>QUESTION :: I guess my biggest question is, why not <em>always</em> use for loops while iterating through an object?? Is there even a point to using $.each()? Do you always use for() loops even when going through jQuery objects?</strong></p>

<p><strong><a href="http://jsfiddle.net/3ySng/1/" rel="nofollow">jsFiddle DEMO here</a></strong></p>

<pre><code>Function type:                  Execution Time:
_testArea.each() + $(this)               1947   &lt;-- using $(this) slows it down tremendously
$.each()         + $(this)               1940
_testArea.each() + el(plain JS)           458   &lt;-- using the Element speeds things up
$.each()         + el(plain JS)           452
for() loop       + plainJS[0] iteration   236   &lt;-- over 8x faster
</code></pre>

<p>Just my 2cents. :)</p>
