Using Virtual DOM in React.js: Top 5 Benefits

Introducing React.js and Virtual DOM?

React.js is an open-source JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

The virtual DOM is a node tree listing content, and elements and their attributes as

objects and properties. The render() method of React creates a node tree from React

components and updates this node tree due to the mutations caused by actions in the data

model. When compared to the real DOM, Virtual DOM is in -memory representation of

Real DOM. It is lightweight JavaScript object which is simply a copy of the Real DOM.

React.js maintains 2 virtual DOM at any instance of time. One of them is the updated

state virtual DOM and other is the previous state virtual DOM.

Minimizing the time it takes to repaint the screen is one of the biggest concerns of

Browser makers. The most appropriate thing that can be done is to minimize and batch

the DOM changes that necessitates redrawing. This strategy where the DOM changes are

batched and reduced, at another level of abstraction, is the idea behind React’s Virtual

DOM.

List of Top 5 Benefits: The Countdown Begins

5. Efficiency –

React’s Virtual DOM provides a more efficient way of updating the view in a web

application. Each time the underlying data changes in a React app, a new Virtual DOM

representation of the user interface is created. Rendering the Virtual DOM is always

faster than rendering the UI in the actual browser DOM.

4. Greater Performance –

Updating the Virtual DOM in React.js always increases the performance. With the

setStare() method, React.js creates the whole virtual DOM from scratch. Creating a whole

tree is very fast and so it enhances the performance considerably. One may argue that re -

rendering the entire Virtual DOM every time there’s a possibility that something has

changed would be wasteful. The fact to consider is that React is keeping two Virtual

DOM trees in memory.

3. Simplicity –

From a programmer’s perspective, React and its Virtual DOM are simpler than most of

the other approaches to making JavaScript reactive. Pure JavaScript code updates React

components while React updates the DOM. The data binding is not intertwined with the

application.

2. CPU-Intensive –

The Virtual DOM adds a layer of scripting to the optimizations the browser carries out to

make the DOM manipulations transparent to the developer. Compared to all other

methods of updating the DOM, this method of incorporating an additional layer of

abstraction makes React much more CPU-intensive.

1. Optimized Memory Usage –

The Virtual DOM makes optimized use of the memory compared to other systems because

it doesn’t hold observables in the memory. Due to the Virtual DOM, each change in the

data model can trigger a complete refresh of the virtual user interface. This is very

different from the systems used by other libraries that based upon the state of the

document, updates them when necessary.

A tool is as good as the kind of use employed upon it. React and Virtual DOM give us a

simple way of updating the browser. This ensures releasing a significant amount of

memory resources and optimizing the user interface in an easier way. Thus, Virtual DOM

in React provides benefits in both performance and productivity.

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