document.getElementById vs jQuery $()

Is this:

var contents = document.getElementById('contents');

The same as this:

var contents = $('#contents');

Given that jQuery is loaded?

Not exactly!!

document.getElementById('contents'); //returns a HTML DOM Object

var contents = $('#contents');  //returns a jQuery Object

In jQuery, to get the same result as document.getElementById, you can access the jQuery Object and get the first element in the object (Remember JavaScript objects act similar to associative arrays).

var contents = $('#contents')[0]; //returns a HTML DOM Object