React Virtual DOM (Document Object Model) is a technique used by React to optimize the performance of web applications. In this answer, we will dive deeper into the concept of Virtual DOM in React and explore how it works in more detail.
The Virtual DOM is a lightweight representation of the actual DOM. It is a JavaScript object that contains information about the structure of the web page, such as the nodes and their attributes. The Virtual DOM is created by React and is used to calculate the changes that need to be made to the actual DOM when a component’s state or props change.
Here’s how the Virtual DOM works in React:
- When a component is first rendered, React creates a Virtual DOM tree that represents the structure of the actual DOM. This Virtual DOM tree is a plain JavaScript object that contains all the nodes and their attributes.
- When a component’s state or props change, React creates a new Virtual DOM tree that represents the updated structure of the actual DOM. React then compares this new Virtual DOM tree with the previous one to determine the changes that need to be made to the actual DOM.
- React calculates the minimum number of changes required to update the actual DOM based on the difference between the previous and new Virtual DOM trees. This process is called “reconciliation.”