Jest is a popular test framework for JavaScript, initially created by Facebook for testing React applications.It has gained popularity for testing both front-end and back-end JavaScript applications.Unit testing is important for software quality, and Jest helps in verifying smallest parts of an application in isolation.Jest offers a complete experience with features like zero configuration setup and a comprehensive CLI tool.Advantages of Jest include easy test control, interactive mode, excellent documentation, and comprehensive mocking capabilities.Jest's main characteristics include zero configuration setup, isolation of tests, snapshot testing, and a rich API.To get started with Jest, you need to install it globally, create a project, add Jest as a dev dependency, write tests, and run them.Jest's vocabulary includes mocks, spies, describe blocks, matchers, setup and teardown functions, and snapshot testing.Mock functions in Jest help test the links between code, while spies track calls to object methods.The Jest basics cover describe blocks, it/tests, matchers for assertions, setup/teardown functions, and snapshot testing for React front ends.