Virtual DOM

Definitions

1. A lightweight in-memory representation of the real DOM used by frameworks like React to optimize UI updates. When state changes, a new virtual DOM tree is created and diffed against the previous one, and only the minimal set of real DOM mutations is applied.

   In plain English: A fast, in-memory copy of the web page structure that frameworks use to figure out the minimum changes needed to update the screen.

   Example: "React's virtual DOM diffs are fast, but for simple updates, Svelte's compiler approach that skips the virtual DOM entirely can be even faster."

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