Why use CakePhp AJAX helper instead of jQuery?
I don't use the helper at all. Not in Rails, not in CakePHP. I've never cared much for server-side technologies writing my client-side code. I'd much rather include the libraries (I do use Cake's HTML helper for this) and write the javascript/jQuery code myself. Maybe I'm a control freak, but I feel like it gives me a better handle on what's going on under the hood.