why so much use of .split() in jQ instead of just an array?

why so much use of .split() in jQ instead of just an array?

was just browsing the source and noticed that there are a lot of places where there is a space-separated list of stuff in a string (sometimes multiple stings concatenated) followed by a .split().

in the places i saw it used, it's done just on init, so speed really isnt a factor. but why not just have an array?

why this:
  1. props: "altKey attrChange attrName bubbles button".split(" ");
rather than this?:
  1. props: ['altKey','attrChange','attrName','bubbles','button'];

the only benefit i see is character count in the source and one string rather than numerous. on the other hand if optimized by a compiler identical strings can be merged into a single reference.

just curious...