Any framework that uses a templating language, in other words some form of HTML with enhancements (Angular/Ember), will always be inferior to the virtual DOM ap

Any framework that uses a templating language, in other words some form of HTML with enhancements (Angular/Ember), will always be inferior to the virtual DOM approach (React/Mithril). Why? Because the virtual DOM approach embraces javascript and its expressiveness. With templating languages, such as Angular's or Ember's Handlebars, well first I have to learn its DSL, then I always feel constrained in what I am able to do with them. The lack of expressiveness becomes extremely frustrating on big projects. Then there's also the lack of debuggability and tooling. My view is that HTML is just one way of declaring the DOM, but ultimately HTML or some enhanced version of it is just a string. The virtual DOM is another path to constructing the DOM, but instead of a string it's javascript upfront.