Difference Between DOM and Virtual DOM

The main difference between the DOM and the VDOM is that the DOM represents the actual structure of the document, while the VDOM is a virtual representation of the DOM used for optimization.

The DOM (Document Object Model) is a tree-like structure that represents the HTML content of a web page. It is used to update the content of a web page in response to user interactions or network events. The DOM is a slow and resource-intensive process because it requires the entire page to be updated whenever there is a change.

Virtual DOM, on the other hand, is an in-memory representation of the real DOM. React uses virtual DOM to improve the performance of updating the real DOM. When a change occurs, React updates the virtual DOM and then calculates the difference between the virtual DOM and the real DOM. This allows React to only update the parts of the real DOM that have changed, instead of updating the entire DOM, which can be slow and resource-intensive.

The virtual DOM acts as an intermediary between the React code and the real DOM. It provides a faster and more efficient way to update the real DOM, as React only updates the parts of the real DOM that have changed, rather than updating the entire DOM.

In summary, the virtual DOM provides a lightweight, in-memory representation of the real DOM that React uses to improve the performance of updating the real DOM and provide a better user experience.