[d3.js] d3.select("#element") not working when code above the html element

<script>$(function(){var svg = d3.select("#chart").append("svg:svg");});</script>
<div id="chart"></div>

In other words, it's not happening because you can't query against something that doesn't exist yet-- so just do it after the page loads (here via jquery).

Btw, its recommended that you place your JS files before the close of your body tag.