 | This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. (February 2026) |
John Resig | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Resig in 2010 | |
| Born | May 8, 1984 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | Rochester Institute of Technology (BS) |
| Occupations |
|
| Employer | Khan Academy |
| Known for | |
| Website | johnresig |
John Resig (born May 8, 1984) is an American software engineer and author, best known as the creator of jQuery, the most widely used JavaScript library.[1] jQuery is used on approximately 77% of the top 10 million websites, making it the most deployed JavaScript library by a large margin.[2] He is the chief software architect at Khan Academy, where he has worked since 2011.[3]
Early life and education
Resig earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the Rochester Institute of Technology's Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences in 2009.[4] During his time at RIT, he conducted research on data mining instant messaging networks with professor Ankur Teredesai and explored real-time online collaboration methods with professor Jon Schull.[4]
Career
jQuery and Mozilla
Resig began developing jQuery in 2005 while still a student at RIT, frustrated with the inconsistencies in cross-browser JavaScript development.[1] He publicly released jQuery at BarCamp NYC in January 2006.[5] The library quickly gained adoption, with the Drupal content management system selecting it as a core component.[1]
From 2007 to 2011, Resig worked at the Mozilla Corporation, initially as a JavaScript evangelist and later as a JavaScript tool developer.[6] During this period, he gave over 125 talks worldwide about JavaScript, browser technologies, and jQuery.[6] He also worked on the One Laptop per Child project in 2006–2007.[7]
Beyond jQuery, Resig created or contributed to several other JavaScript projects, including:
- Processing.js, a port of the Processing language to JavaScript[8]
- Sizzle, a standalone CSS selector engine that was later extracted from jQuery[9]
- TestSwarm, a distributed continuous integration testing framework for JavaScript[10]
Khan Academy
Resig joined Khan Academy in May 2011 as an application developer and rose to the position of chief software architect.[3] In 2012, he led the development of Khan Academy's computer programming curriculum, creating interactive learning environments designed for beginners with no prior programming experience.[11] He has worked on various aspects of the platform including math exercises, mobile development, accessibility, internationalization, and build systems.[3]
Digital humanities
Resig has applied his programming skills to digital humanities research, particularly in Japanese art history. In December 2012, he launched Ukiyo-e.org, a database and image similarity search engine for Japanese woodblock prints that aggregates over 220,000 images from more than 24 museums, universities, libraries, and auction houses worldwide.[12] The site has become an essential resource for scholars researching Japanese prints, enabling them to identify similar prints across collections and correct attribution errors.[13]
Resig has been a visiting researcher at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, focusing on the study of ukiyo-e, and has served as a board member of the Japanese Art Society of America.[14] He has presented his digital humanities research at the Japanese Association for Digital Humanities conference (2013) and the Digital Humanities 2014 conference.[14]
Publications
Resig is the author of several books on JavaScript:
- Pro JavaScript Techniques (Apress, 2006)[15]
- Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja (with Bear Bibeault, Manning Publications, 2012; second edition 2016)[16]
- The GraphQL Guide (with Loren Sands-Ramshaw, self-published, 2021)[17]
Awards and honors
- 2009: .Net Magazine Award for Best Open Source Application (jQuery)[1]
- 2010: Inducted into the Rochester Institute of Technology Innovation Hall of Fame (inaugural class)[4]
Personal life
Resig lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with his partner, composer and multimedia artist Nell Shaw Cohen.[18]
References
- ^ a b c d Bernstein, M. (2010). "Profile John Resig: The creator of jQuery talks about research, open source development and creating the most popular JavaScript library in use today". XRDS: Crossroads, the ACM Magazine for Students. 17: 44. doi:10.1145/1836543.1836557.
- ^ "Usage Statistics and Market Share of jQuery". W3Techs. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ a b c "John Resig - JavaScript Programming". Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ a b c "John E. Resig". RIT Alumni. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- ^ Resig, John (2006-01-18). "BarCampNYC Wrap-up". Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ a b Resig, John. "Speaking". Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ "John Resig - Khan Academy". ContactOut. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Resig, John. "Processing.js". Retrieved 2011-08-19.
- ^ Resig, John (2009-04-25). "New Processing.js and Sizzle.js Sites". Retrieved 2011-08-19.
- ^ Resig, John. "JavaScript Testing Does Not Scale". Retrieved 2011-08-19.
- ^ "Where in the world is John Resig?". Life at KA. 2013-04-06. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ "About The Site". Ukiyo-e.org. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ "Explore Hundreds of Thousands of Japanese Woodblock Prints in a Ukiyo-e Archive". Colossal. 2024-08-28. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ a b "John Resig". Journal of Digital Humanities. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Resig, John (2006-12-11). Pro Javascript Techniques. Apress. ISBN 978-1-59059-727-9.
- ^ Resig, John (2013). Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja. Manning Publications. ISBN 978-1-933988-69-6.
- ^ "The GraphQL Guide". Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Resig, John. "About". Retrieved 2024-01-10.
External links
