virtual DOM and why is it used in libraries/frameworks?

Answer

The virtual DOM (VDOM) is a representation of the real DOM in the form of plain JavaScript objects. These objects have properties to describe the real DOM nodes they represent: the node name, its attributes, and child nodes.

<div class="counter">
  <h1>0</h1>
  <button>-</button>
  <button>+</button>
</div>

The above markup's virtual DOM representation might look like this:

{
  nodeName: "div",
  attributes: { class: "counter" },
  children: [
    {
      nodeName: "h1",
      attributes: {},
      children: [0]
    },
    {
      nodeName: "button",
      attributes: {},
      children: ["-"]
    },
    {
      nodeName: "button",
      attributes: {},
      children: ["+"]
    }
  ]
}

The library/framework uses the virtual DOM as a means to improve performance. When the state of an application changes, the real DOM needs to be updated to reflect it. However, changing real DOM nodes is costly compared to recalculating the virtual DOM. The previous virtual DOM can be compared to the new virtual DOM very quickly in comparison.

Once the changes between the old VDOM and new VDOM have been calculated by the diffing engine of the framework, the real DOM can be patched efficiently in the least time possible to match the new state of the application.

Good to hear

• Why accessing the DOM can be so costly.

Additional links

• The difference between Virtual DOM and DOM