> The APIs seem to be designed with the assumption that all your code will be using jQuery.

Again, not true. For example, the `this` in an event handler is the actual DOM element, not a jQuery object. Whether you handle that directly with DOM methods or wrap it with `$(this)` is up to you. Many people prefer the latter but the former is often smaller and prettier.

> For example converting a wrapped node to a native DOM node requires an extra call that, in my opinion, is ugly: $('.something').get(0); and could be considered to be an anti-pattern.

How common is that, really? Your example assumes a single element with that class name. Why not chain a jQuery method behind it and handle the 0 or N cases as well?