The W3C proves that it can move with the times: "The mission of the W3C Web API Working Group is to develop specifications that enable improved client-side application development on the Web." This is very good news indeed.
You really don’t need jQuery any more …and that’s thanks to jQuery.
Here, the Github team talk through their process of swapping out jQuery for vanilla JavaScript, as well as their forays into web components (or at least the custom elements bit).
Kenny Meyers on the ubiquity of JavaScript.
This is a good straightforward hands-on explanation of Ajax: succinct and clear.
A collection of scripts. There might be some good stuff here but use with care and discretion.
Dan Webb does an excellent job of comparing the big four JavaScript libraries that were discussed at @media.
Learn DOM Scripting and Ajax in the Big Apple.