I installed my first SS & looked into jsparty and found prototype/scriptaculous; jquery; lots of files with "regular JS".
Personally, I use jquery and regular JS.
Do I need prototype? How smart is to mix libraries?
How come that jquery is not hosted by google? and version 1.3.x ? Also in that case you don't need dimensions plug-in.
Which of those plug-ins are mandatory ? If you look into plug-in folders you'll see lots of unnecessary files, even html files!?
How come that you use greybox; thickbox and thickbox-reloaded? Personally shadowbox is the best and you could use it with prototype as well.
I guess lots of questions, but the bottom line is that I would like to be explained the history of JS development in SilverStripe CMS.
Thank you in advance...........

Older versions of the SilverStripe CMS were dependent on Prototype. The developers are currently moving from prototype to jquery, but this is something that isn't accomplished in a day. Therefore both libraries are required at the moment.

I think including the version that's hosted by google is fine for a personal site. For a CMS I prefer the bundled file any day. It means, that the software works and was tested with this file and that I can use/test it on a local webserver without internet access.
The files in these folders don't hurt anybody. Except maybe for the longer wait when uploading a site to a webserver :)
Personally, I would also appreciate if there was only the absolute minimum of files bundled with SilverStripe, and only the files that are necessary for the CMS. All other files should be bundled with the template that requires them or should be chosen by the website author.
But like I said, this is most likely due to change with the move to jQuery.

Great banal!
You gave me the explanation.
Yes, it's not the easiest to migrate from one library to another.
I agree with you that we should have only a minimum JS required, no matter which library we are using (and library shouldn't be hosted by google unless on live site).
Of course, that extra plug-ins can't hurt, but it not documented which ones are reqired.
Once again thx for reply..........