Why do people call the jQuery $ alias a 'factory'?

Question

On various sites, jQuery\'s $ variable is referred to as an alias, and on others, it is referred to as a factory. I took a look at the source code, and I think

Answer 1

The jQuery function (on the right of the assignment in your question) is a factory (it creates new jQuery objects). It is not in the global scope, because it is defined in the scope of a self-executing function.

window.$ and window.jQuery are global aliases for the constructor.

Answer 2

I think either is an okay term. The dollar sign is certainly an alias for the jQuery function, specifically to be used as a shorthand. If someone refers to the function as a factory, I don't think that's specific to the $ alias, but just describing what the jQuery function does in general, which is create objects from various different types of input.