What is the difference between these two methods of writing $ instead of jQuery in WordPress [closed]

Question

The first is a pattern called a closure. It’s not unique to jQuery. You could just as easily write

(function(someVar) {

    // Inside the closure, someVar == "test"

})("test");

Basically, you’re manually passing jQuery into the closure by referencing the jQuery object externally and aliasing it to $ inside the context of the closure.

The second pattern is unique to jQuery. It’s one of the library’s shortcuts to the DOM ready event. The following calls are all equivalent:

jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
    // Use $ inside here like normal
});

jQuery.ready(function($) {
    // Use $ inside here like normal
});

jQuery(function($) {
    // Use $ inside here like normal
});

In all three examples, you’re also passing the jQuery object into your function as the variable $ so that it’s available within the local scope.