I'm new to jQuery, and I'm wondering what the difference is between jQuery's get() and eq() functions. I may misunderstand what the get() function does, but I thought it odd that I couldn't call a function on the returned on the returned element in the same line.
//Doesn't work
I.e. $("h2").get(0).fadeIn("slow");
//Works
$("h2").eq(0).fadeIn("slow");
.get() and .eq() both return a single "element" from a jQuery object array, but they return the single element in different forms.
.eq() returns it as a jQuery object, meaning the DOM element is wrapped in the jQuery wrapper, which means that it accepts jQuery functions.
.get() returns an array of raw DOM elements. You may manipulate each of them by accessing its attributes and invoking its functions as you would on a raw DOM element. But it loses its identity as a jQuery-wrapped object, so a jQuery function like .fadeIn won't work.
get() returns a DOM element whereas :eq() and eq() return a jQuery element. Since DOM elements have no method fadeIn() it fails.
Description: Retrieve the DOM elements matched by the jQuery object.
http://api.jquery.com/eq-selector/
Description: Select the element at index n within the matched set.
get(0)(docs) returns the first DOM element in the set.
eq(0)(docs) returns the first DOM element in the set, wrapped in a jQuery object.
That's why .fadeIn("slow"); doesn't work when you do .get(0). A DOM element doesn't have a fadeIn() method, but a jQuery object does.