Both great points! And just to round it out — with modern JavaScript, another important context for understanding what does $ mean in javascript is inside template literals. When we write ${} inside backticks (```), the dollar sign signals expression interpolation. It allows us to embed variables or even full expressions directly inside a string, which is super handy for dynamic text.
Example:
let name = "Alice";
let message = `Hello, ${name}! How are you?`;
console.log(message); // Output: Hello, Alice! How are you?
In this case, ${} is not about naming or jQuery — it’s part of JavaScript’s own syntax for building dynamic strings. It’s a small but powerful feature that makes code cleaner and easier to maintain.