Actual DOM Vs Virtual DOM

 

The Document Object Model (DOM) is a programming interface for HTML and XML documents. It represents the structure of a document as a tree-like hierarchy, with the topmost element being the root element and each element within the document being a child or descendant of the root element. The DOM allows developers to access and manipulate the content, structure, and style of a document programmatically.

Diagram 1: DOM

The virtual DOM, on the other hand, is a lightweight in-memory representation of the DOM that is used by certain JavaScript libraries and frameworks to optimize the performance of updates to the actual DOM. The virtual DOM works by diffing the previous virtual DOM tree with the new virtual DOM tree, identifying the minimum number of changes that need to be made to the actual DOM in order to reflect the changes made to the virtual DOM.

One of the main benefits of using the virtual DOM is that it reduces the number of DOM manipulation operations that need to be performed, which can be expensive in terms of performance. When an update to the DOM is made, the entire DOM tree needs to be traversed and re-rendered, which can take a significant amount of time depending on the size and complexity of the DOM tree. By using the virtual DOM, developers can make multiple updates to the virtual DOM without incurring the performance cost of updating the actual DOM until the final virtual DOM tree has been fully constructed.

Diagram 2: VIRTUAL DOM

Another benefit of the virtual DOM is that it allows developers to write declarative code, rather than imperative code. Imperative code is code that specifies exactly how to perform an action, while declarative code is code that specifies what to do, without specifying how to do it. With the virtual DOM, developers can specify what changes they want to make to the DOM, without having to worry about how those changes will be implemented. This can make the code easier to read and understand, as well as easier to maintain.

There are also a number of other benefits to using the virtual DOM, including:

•          Improved performance: As mentioned earlier, the virtual DOM can significantly improve the performance of updates to the actual DOM by reducing the number of DOM manipulation operations that need to be performed.
•          Improved scalability: The virtual DOM can scale more easily than the actual DOM, as it can handle large numbers of updates without incurring a performance penalty.
•          Improved maintainability: The virtual DOM can make it easier to maintain code, as it allows developers to write declarative code that is easier to read and understand.
•          Increased complexity: The virtual DOM can add an additional layer of complexity to an application, as it requires developers to think about both the actual DOM and the virtual DOM.
•          Increased memory usage: The virtual DOM requires additional memory to store the in-memory representation of the DOM, which can impact the overall performance of an application.

 

Overall, the virtual DOM is a powerful tool that can significantly improve the performance and maintainability of an application. While it does have some potential drawbacks, the benefits of the virtual DOM generally outweigh the costs, making it an important tool in the toolkit of any modern JavaScript developer.

     Bapuji Nayak- Tech Neutron