I don't know when jQuery added this method, but for the longest time they didn't have it and made you use closures even while most other javascript libraries ha

I don't know when jQuery added this method, but for the longest time they didn't have it and made you use closures even while most other javascript libraries had similar methods. Their argument was that you should know what's going on rather than just using a convenience method all over the place (and likely in situations where you don't need it).