I’m fed by those ridiculous requirements in job offers:
- Javascript (and not just jQuery)
- Ruby (and not just Rails)
- PHP (and not just Zend Framework),
- …
What do they want?
First of all, jQuery, Rails, and Zend Framework are libraries written in JavaScript, Ruby and PHP respectively. So, of course, knowledge of the latter implies that of the former, because you can’t really do anything with a library if you don’t know the language it’s written in.
Then, if you want me to program an application in any given language without using libraries available at my fingertips for that language, then you’re just a fool. Do you really want me to give up on years of worldwide engineering experience advising about code reuse? What is it open source to you?
Oh, just as I know quite a few WordPress devs that do not really know PHP, I think I can figure out what “they mean”:
It is not uncommon for Web (graphic) Designers know just enough jQuery to hack a bit, but do not really know JavaScript overall very well. Also, there is sometimes an over use of jQuery; why load a huge library when only getElementById & document.write are the only things needed?
Someone may not know other frameworks outside of Zend, nor know how to program PHP without a framework for simple tasks.
Though I have to agree that Ruby & Rails are married to each other more or less.